


Crimes and Other Sins

by chemicalcandy



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Anal Sex, Blowjobs, Drugs, First Kiss, Fluff and Smut, Fluffy Ending, Gay Sex, M/M, Virgin Frank Iero, somebody dies in the end im not gonna tell you who but dont worry its not a major character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 14:56:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 29,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7319716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemicalcandy/pseuds/chemicalcandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>22-year-old Frank Iero got abducted by a gang of criminals 8 years ago and is forced to participate in their crimes. He manages to save a certain comic-loving man called Gerard from getting killed and the two of them spend lots of time together which leads to the two of them falling in love.</p><p>There's more to it but I don't want to reveal too much tbh. You should read this if you like smut and fluff, also stories with suspense, twists and turns I guess. Enjoy ^-^</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Frank took one last, long drag of his cigarette before throwing it away. Smoking made his throat scratch, and he had noticed a not very healthy-sounding cough months ago, but he'd never even considered quitting. Frank didn't know whether he was doing it out of habit or if he was actually addicted to the shit, perhaps a mix of both options. In his business, he doubted anybody could deal without cigarettes, without their calming and distracting effect, most of all. Maybe what Frank was doing for a living couldn't even be considered a _business_ \- it kinda followed the definition of business, Frank guessed, after all goods and services were exchanged for money – but for Frank, something called a business had to be reputable and honest, to some extent at least, and Frank didn't really consider selling drugs and killing and robbing innocent people as a reputable job. 

Yeah, that's what he was doing. That was his _business_ \- and he hated himself for it so much. Frank tried to tell himself it wasn't his fault, like, everyday, but he was unable to discard the unstoppable guilt.  
And there he was, despite him loathing himself, about to do it again. Break into the building, take the money, kill whoever was in his way, leave. The worst part of it all was the waiting, waiting to be given the command to start. It made Frank feel like there was a way out, that he might not have to do it, and that he might have a chance to just run away. Although, of course, he knew that it was just an illusion of his mind. He knew that if he really wanted to escape this whole bullshit, start a new life, he would be killed before even leaving town. This was his fate, and he had to face it. 

“You want a line too?” 

Mechanically Frank nodded, almost grateful for the offer. He joined his colleague, his business partner, Bob. Bob was tall, way taller than Frank – needless to say, almost everyone was taller than Frank – blonde, often bad-tempered, nonchalant and, most importantly, a fucking cocaine addict. Frank was fairly sure he wasn't even forced to come out here and do the dirty work for their boss, Bob would do almost everything to get some coke. Frank didn't mind though, Bob was an alright guy to work with, probably. He was strong, which couldn't be a bad thing. And at moments like this, Frank really appreciated some coke – his nerves were fucking raw, as usual. The nicotine in his cigarettes might ease the whole thing a little, but of course that wasn't as distracting as the amazing buzz coke could give you. 

Bob, being barely visible in the unlit street in his dark clothes, was just taking a line himself. Not his first, maybe third or forth. He had gotten a knife out his pocket, scattered the white powder on the blade, and now snorted the line whilst pressing a finger against the unneeded nostril. 

“Ahh,” he made, almost moaning in pleasure when the substance had disappeared. He hold out the knife towards Frank, than handed him a tiny pouch with more of the coke in it. 

“Thanks, man.” Frank had prepared the line in no time, then mimicked Bob's action. He too groaned when the powder made his sinuses burn and his brain spin – now he only had to wait a couple of minutes before the astonishing feeling would set in. For people unfamiliar with cocaine, fulfilling the business they were told to do may have become impossible now, but Frank and Bob, especially Bob, were so used to the effect that it hardly mattered. 

Frank handed the knife and coke back to Bob who had sat down on the ground, gazing at the stars, and Frank let his body sink next to his. They were silent for the next twenty minutes, both inhaling the fresh night air whilst enjoying the cocaine buzzing through their veins, waiting for the text message that would make them have to get up. 

Today's job wasn't extremely difficult or a big thing. Frank even thought he was being a pansy for being so nervous before each time, but he just couldn't help it. They'd been told to rob a local bookstore – see, doesn't sound very impressive. But here's the thing: there had been rumors the shop owner keeps _all the money he's ever made_ in a safe in a backroom. Which is pretty stupid if you ask Frank, and he's got quite a lot of experience with things like this. His boss had done some research and the rumors turned out to be true – too bad for the owner Frank and Bob were about to take it all away. 

Whilst Frank actually felt bad, he knew Bob didn't give a damn, just like it was supposed to be. It was just a job, they'd done this so many times, and the owner might even get compensations if he was lucky. Bob didn't have to take the cocaine to calm his nerves, it was more like a fun thing for him. And the addiction. 

The night air had turned from pleasantly chilly to a _it's-fucking-freezing-please-let-us-go-inside-soon_ kinda temperature. Frank tried to keep himself warm by striding up and down and moving his arms a little, but they couldn't move too much because, even though it was really dark and they were wearing pitch-black clothes, there still was the risk of getting caught. And their boss would get so fucking angry if the whole thing had to be canceled, Frank knew he'd been anticipating this day for weeks, and done so much planning. He'd even managed to make the shop owner follow an urgent call from Texas this evening, implying he was far enough away, not even in this time zone anymore in fact – just in case. Through several calculations he'd managed to estimate the amount of money Frank and Bob would be able to get, he wouldn't tell them of course. They were just the kids doing the filthy job. And through coincidence he'd found a guy who apparently hated the shop owner, like, really much, and he'd offered to pay Frank's boss for robbing the guy's shop. So yeah, the thing was not exactly unimportant, but not the biggest deal either. They'd already robbed several banks together, and celebrities' houses, that kind of stuff. Jobs like that brought a lot more money, of course – but Frank wouldn't benefit from any of it whatsoever. The only time he saw any of the money was when he got it out of the building. 

But Frank would not complain about that – he'd lived on an alright standard. That was the only good thing about being stuck in this 'gang', Frank didn't live on the streets, homeless. And he always had food and water and cigs. Sometimes, when his boss was having a good day, he'd even give Frank some money he could spend on himself, and that often wasn't a tiny amount. The fact that Frank financially depended on his boss completely probably was another thing he'd planned to make sure Frank didn't even think about trying to escape – he wouldn't know how to get money for himself legally, he wouldn't know how to handle it. 

Frank hated it. Frank hated that the opportunity to learn all that had been taken from him, that he, unlike most people his age, didn't even have a choice. He was brutally snatched from his life – not dead, even though that was what his family had been told so nobody would come look for him – but torn into a drug-polluted, hate-filled life, so very different from what he used to know. 

It was a Thursday when fourteen-year-old Frank Iero went home from school. It had been an exhausting day, Frank remembered – double P.E. or something, a huge test in American History, lots of homework to do. Frank hadn't minded too much though, he'd always been sort of eager when it came to education and learning. He was a good student, mostly A's and B's, the teachers and his parents expected him to go to University, become something big. And for years that was what Frank had wanted as well – be successful, maybe even rich, start a family at some point. He still kind of wanted that, to be perfectly honest – but he doubted he would get anywhere near a normal life like that any time soon. On that unfortunate Thursday everything should change. 

Frank had gotten in the school bus taking him home, sat next to a friend, talked for 10 minutes before getting out of the bus again. He then happened to have the idea to visit another friend of his, a guy in his class who had been sick for a longer period, to teach him what they had learned at school during his absence. They spent some hours together, and before Frank knew it, it had become dark outside. Of course he'd told his parents by calling them quickly, they were mostly fine with what Frank did as long as he was keeping up his grades. At 9 he decided to leave, and that's when it started. His home was a couple of streets from where his class mate lived, so Frank needed to walk about 20 minutes. Not a big deal, some might say – he lived in an affluent residential neighborhood, with trimmed dooryards and men who drove to their companies in their Mercedes early in the morning. Kind of like that. So, obviously, Frank didn't expect the black van approaching him to halt, getting pulled inside it and drugged with some hardcore shit that knocked him out immediately. Yet that's exactly what happened, and then that was it. Frank never saw his friends again, or his parents. 

First of all his kidnappers made sure to keep his hopes up though. They sent a threatening letter to Frank's parents, announcing they would kill their son if they wouldn't pay them off. Fifty fucking thousand dollars they wanted to have for Frank. He supposed that's what these dicks had wanted – abduct a kid with wealthy parents and get their asses filled with money in return. Being the caring and loving parents they were, Frank's parents cooperated immediately, whilst Frank spent his time all tied up and getting insulted all day long, just for his kidnapper's amusement. 

And then they turned out to be _complete_ dickbags by getting Frank's parents to pay, and not giving Frank back in return. No, they decided Frank had “potential” - obviously Frank insulting and trying to escape had made a significant impression – and, instead of letting him go after receiving the money, told them they had acted too slow and Frank was dead already. And then they left the city, drove far, far away, and Frank never got the chance to let his parents know the truth, not until now, 8 fucking years later. 

The first two years or something, they'd kept him like a slave. Whenever they'd found a new hideout, Frank was forced to stay in the basement or a room nobody really used, some days not even given food. But he did get cigarettes – that's when he started smoking, and quite heavily. Then, when they thought they'd _tamed_ Frank or something, they started to train him and show him how to be good at what they were doing. How to knock out a man without a weapon, how to pick a lock, how to hot-wire cars, later even how to work with guns. All kinds of shit, everything Frank might need one day. 

He had learned to accept his new life over the years. He'd learned every disobedience, brashness and dissent was punished by a strike to the face, a few days without food or something else, depending on his boss' mood. Frank had suffered under him the first couple of years, and it had taken him a long time to learn how to deal with his sudden mood swings or masterful attitude. Mostly Frank was able to avoid getting shouted at or punished, he knew how to speak to his boss to keep him satisfied, and Frank even felt like his boss liked him. Not actually _like_ , more like respected him as his underling? Kinda. Frank had to admit, he was a quick learner and, despite his compunction, not bad at what he was doing. Frank might be short, but he was quick. And, due to hour-long training, fairly muscular. He was smart and skilled – perhaps his kidnappers had been right calling him useful. 

Due to Frank's social skills, social skills meaning the ability to make his boss feel like he was admired, he had been able to get some privileges out of him. His tattoos, for example – When Frank turned 16, he developed this massive attraction towards tattoos, so, after begging of his boss over and over again – making sure to not annoy him too much withal – he was allowed to get tattoos. As much as he wanted, where he wanted them, and his boss even paid for them. It was _amazing_. There were other privileges, like the cocaine or sweets – although the coke wasn't a big thing, almost everyone here was a regular consumer, just as with the cigarettes or alcohol – Frank could enjoy, but nothing was as significant to him as his tattoos. Okay, and his lip and nose piercings maybe, and the ear studs. And he even got them before his 18th birthday – something his parents wouldn't have approved of, probably. 

Altogether, ignoring that he was forced to rob and kill people and was not able to contact his parents and the self-hatred that slowly became constant, his life was okay. After they got a little more successful and wealthy with their _business_ , they were able to stop tramping around the country, but now had been living in a rather big house outside a bigger city for almost one year. Nobody really visited them, it had spread pretty quickly that people you wouldn't want to hang around with now lived in there. Yet the police didn't have any evidence against them – they did their jobs neatly. Frank knew they'd probably have to move again though some day soon, you know, new territory or something. You couldn't stay in one place for too long as a criminal, he guessed. 

As his watch displayed 2:24AM, the vibration of Bob's phone broke the silence. That was the command they'd been waiting for– a short nod from Bob in Frank's direction confirmed it. Frank's tired body awakened quickly, his heart beating nervously as he clutched to the gun in his pocket. He doubted he would need it – he hoped so, at least – but they pulled of armed assaults only. And somehow, for some odd reason, Frank felt even more nervous than usual, his stomach twitching unhealthily and his palms wet with sweat, as if he knew something was going to be different today, as if he could feel that today things wouldn't go quite as neatly as usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I would appreciate kudos and comments, thank you! :)


	2. A night at the bookstore

The lock was picked within seconds, they'd done it so many times that it seemed to be a breeze. Just as they'd been told, their boss had made sure all electricity had been turned off, so no alarm system was to be heard. Everything was safe – after a short pause of holding their breaths and waiting, Bob and Frank stepped inside the building. 

His boss had sent in a spy beforehand to have an overview of what the shop was like. Frank found it rather small, not something he'd considered breaking into, to be honest. But he wasn't here to question his orders – he had come to pursue his business. They turned on the flashlights mounted on their heads, almost synchronized, and started walking in.

They were in a room with lots of books, comics, little souvenirs, all kinds of stuff. Frank didn't pay attention – he wasn't especially interested in reading. Instead, he headed for the checkout since they'd been told to take all money out of it as well. It might not be much, but the “sponsor” paid them for ruining this man, so everything needed to be taken. 

Bob burst the simple cash till open, not paying attention to the noise he caused, and took the money out. 

“200 dollars,” he murmured. “Bet he thought he'd made a big deal, eh?” 

Frank returned his grin, although he really didn't think it was funny. That poor man. Or woman. They didn't know. “Come on, let's get going. The safe must be... there, right?” He pointed at a door left to the checkout labeled 'Staff only'.

Bob shrugged. “Let's find out.”

Strapping his rucksack back on, he stepped towards the door, Frank following him. “Doesn't look especially solid,” he commented as soon as they'd reached it, then reached for the handle to test if it was locked. Unexpectedly, the door swung open, allowing the two burglars to step in without any effort at all.

“That's almost too easy,” Bob said, looking around the room suspiciously. They found a safe in the back of the room, behind a couple of shelves and cabinets. 

Frank knelt before it without hesitating too long. The shop owner had used a combination lock – how reckless. Frank would have it opened within mere minutes. He knew it was impossible to open the safe physically, that was something not even Bob was able to do. But Frank knew how the lock worked – he knew about the spindle, which was a small cylinder attached to the combination dial, the drive cam that was connected to that spindle, the lever mechanism, and he knew how all that functioned to keep the safe locked. Frank turned the dial several full revolutions clockwise to make sure the lock was reset and all three wheels were disengaged. Then Bob handed him a stethoscope – believe it or not, that thing didn't only work in Hollywood movies – placed it in both ears and the bell end against the safe. Thirty seconds of spinning the combination later, Frank had found the most audible location. The shop owner had bought a metal safe, implying the sound to reverberate and make the whole thing even easier. Now he needed to rotate the dial counterclockwise until he found two clicks near each other, then reset the lock again. What he did was routine almost, yet he needed to concentrate and listen closely.

“Done?” Bob pushed, obviously tired of standing next to Frank without being able to help.

“Shush, give me another minute.” Frank really didn't need him interrupting right now – he'd already spent almost 25 minutes on it, he knew they needed to hurry, but he did his best. “Aha!” he whispered just then, hearing the clicking noise he'd been waiting for. “Just a second now.”

“Boss is getting impatient,” Bob commented with a brief look on his phone. 

“I know.” Frank dialed the combination he'd figured out, then the safe swung open with a satisfying noise. “Voila.” 

“Good. How much is it?”

“Doesn't matter, let's just get the money in our bags and then we're gone, dude.” Frank had already begun to shove the bundles of money in his bags. It was more than he had expected, couple of thousands. Plus the money his boss would get from the dude who hated the shop owner – seemed like a good fucking deal. 

Bob had started to bag the cash as well, the safe was almost emptied just a couple of minutes later. “God, I'm looking forward to my bed,” Bob said casually.

Frank nodded. “Fuck yes, me too. I'm so tired...” 

Suddenly there was a clicking noise behind them, making the both of them freeze for half a second before they dropped the bags and pulled their guns, pointing them at the source of the noise. It took Frank a moment to realize what he was looking at – a boy, or a man, in the light of their flashlights, with his hand still on the light switch, with chaotic black hair and what looked like smudged eyeliner, looking sleepy as hell, but even more shocked an anxious, his eyes fixed on the guns. 

“Oh my- Who the fuck are you?!” Frank hissed. His first instinct was to shoot that guy immediately as he'd been told to, but there was something about him that made him talk to him instead. Luckily Bob didn't just shoot him right away either. 

“I-I- Oh god,” the guy stuttered, unable to form any coherent sentence. “Oh fucking shit, please-”

“He asked you a question, fucker,” Bob growled, cocking his gun to emphasize his words. “Better fucking answer quick. And your hands go over your head, understood?”

“Y-yes, okay,” he said, raising his arms. Frank could see how fast and irregular the air left and entered his lungs even from the distance of about 13 feet that separated them. “I'm Gerard. I- Fuck, I'm not even supposed to be here, god, shit, please don't shoot me-”

“What are you doing here?” Frank asked. He needed to shoot him. He'd seen them, heard their voices, caught them in the act. That Gerard guy should be dead right now, yet there was something inside Frank stopping him from putting a bullet through his messy head. 

“I- shit, that's gonna sound so unlikely, I know- please, you have to believe me-” 

Frank now released the safety catch of his gun as well. Gerard talked too much without giving any real information, something Frank had learned wasn't tolerable. “Talk or we will shoot you.”

Gerard swallowed, his body started to tremble at these words. “No, please! I- I went here earlier today, o-or yesterday, it's already past midnight right? Anyway, sorry, oh god, I wanted to buy a comic book here, but then I found Mr Sandler had so many new comics I didn't know, some Marvel stuff, but I didn't have enough money to buy all of them. M-Mr Sandler is the man working here, he's a nice guy, he's alright, really. W-well, i-instead of buying them I decided to hide behind the shelves when Mr Sandler left the room. It was already 8, and he always closes at 8, so I decided t-to hide and stay the night in the shop so I could read the books without h-having to buy them, you know? Shit, I'm stupid, now that shit's gonna get me killed, isn't it? Oh god, fuck, please- When Mr Sandler had left the shop at half past 8 or something I started to read a few pages, and then I got tired and I fell asleep. I swear, I didn't intend to... distract you with whatever you're doing here, really, I w-woke up some minutes ago, and I heard somebody in here. I wanted to switch on the light, a-and then-”

“Then you found yourself being held at gunpoint by two burglars, hm?” Bob said, smiling filthily. “What a shame.”

“Please don't kill me, please- I swear I won't tell anybody, I promise, I'll never let anybody know-” Gerard begged, and it somehow made Frank feel sorry for him. What a poor little fucker, just a little nerdy and not wealthy, and now this was what they were gonna do to him?

“Sorry, man,” Bob said, shrugging. “It's our job-”

“No please! I'll do anything- please don't shoot me, oh god, please, I swear I just wanted to read some comics, fuck-”

The genuine desperation in Gerard's voice made Frank see himself in the young man, when he got kidnapped all those years ago. Of course he had been stubborn mostly, but there had been times times he got weak and cried and pleaded to be let go, just coming to the result it was no good. And now he wasn't going to turn into someone as cold-hearted.

“I know, I believe that dude, but still, you saw our faces, our boss will kill _us_ if we let you live.” 

“Please, I swear-”

“We'll take you with us,” Frank heard himself say. Bob looked at him in confusion, their eyes meeting just briefly, and Frank could see pure surprise and doubt. 

“Uh, we will do what?”

“What?” Gerard gasped.

“We'll take you with us. We can't let you go, obviously, but we won't just shoot you here. Help us get the money in the bags, and then we'll let our boss decide-”

Bob interrupted, determinate. “That's not a good idea, he'll rip our heads off- This kid, we need to shoot him!” 

“It's on my responsibility, okay? It'll be my head only. Trust me, it's gonna be fine.”

Bob shook his head in disbelieve but, apart from cursing to himself, kept his mouth shut. Frank gestured Gerard to come closer and made him shove the money in their bags, still shivering and trembling. “Th-thank you,” he whispered to Frank after he had calmed slightly a couple of minutes later, but Frank ignored him, closed his rucksack and the safe, and got up. 

“You go first. No sudden movements, or I won't be able to save you from being shot. And hands up. Move!” 

And with that, when they left the store with two filled bags of cash and a guy held at gunpoint, Frank came to realize his feeling had been right, something today had been wrong, he'd almost killed yet another man, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that saving this comic lover's ass should turn out to be one of the best decisions of his life.


	3. But you'll protect me, right?

„No. No fucking way – what the hell were you thinking, Iero? We need to get rid of him, _now_.”

“Boss – please, just listen to me, just give me a minute to explain,” Frank pleaded. He felt really stupid for taking Gerard with him, now that he stood in his boss' _office_ , if that's what it was supposed to be, standing in front of his desk awkwardly and staring at him with what he hoped to be innocent and hopeful eyes. “Look, let me-”

“I said _no_!” he growled and banged his fist on the table, making Frank and everyone else in the room startle. Frank glanced at Gerard, who was standing in the corner of the room with a panicked expression, hands cuffed behind his back, Bob holding his elbow firmly. The poor man. Frank felt uncomfortable as hell discussing what was going to happen to him right in front of his eyes. “You need to shoot him, we don't just take random strangers.”

“Of course, boss, you're right,” Frank said, intertwining his fingers behind his back to create a submissive gesture, whilst still pleading with his eyes. This usually worked – Frank knew how to convince his boss to do certain things, but he'd never asked for a favor this huge. “He's not a random stranger, sir. I can see... potential in him. We could train him like you trained me, sir.” 

The angry man behind the desk shook his head, even angrier now, and stood up to walk around the table, where he halted directly in front of Frank. “Do you even realize how risky it was to bring him here? He could be a spy, he could be police – he could have us locked up in prison within hours! I really thought you would be smart enough to see things like this, Iero. I'm disappointed. Now get him out of here, you can bury him in the forest outside, but be careful this time.” 

“Sir,” Frank spoke up yet again. He knew he was moving on thin ice, and he didn't even know why he risked all this for a guy he'd just met, but it seemed right. “Sir, please, just listen to me one single minute. You'll be happy you let me explained it, I promise.” 

He sighed, then folded his arms in front of his chest and nodded. “Fine. One minute. Better impress me, boy.”

Frank nodded, then began talking, leaving his eyes purposely on the floor to make his boss feel even more in charge. He was the kinda guy who liked it when people acted like this around him, Frank had noticed that in all those years, and he was smart enough to use it for himself. “There's something about the guy, sir. Trust me, I've shot so many people already, and I didn't even flinch when pulling the trigger, I'm able to kill. I don't know what it is, but this guy... I can feel it, he will be very profitable for us, sir. Look at him, he doesn't attract attention – yeah, I know, just imagine him without the make-up, and with less wild hair – he's just an ordinary guy. People won't suspect him to do something illegal, I'm sure we can use him. Maybe as a spy, maybe as a dealer? I'm sure you'll find something, you always do, sir, you know your business way better than I do, way better than any of us. It might be hard at first, but I'm convinced we'll succeed to use him, you even succeeded to make me obey, right? I was really stubborn at first, boss, but now I'm here, and Bob and I just got you a whole lotta money-”

“You expect me to be grateful to you for doing your fucking job, Iero?” he snapped. “That's fucking shameless, you get so much in return.”

Shaking his head quickly, Frank looked for the right words to calm him down again. “No no no, boss, that's not what I intended to say. I just meant, although I was giving you such a hard time in the beginning – which I'm truly sorry for, by the way – you still managed to train me to get me where I am today, and I'm successful at what I'm doing. Please, you won't regret it, sir, we can try keeping him here, and if it doesn't work out we'll kill him anyway, what do you say? I swear he's not a police man, it's all on my responsibility.”

“What do you do for a living?” The boss barked in Gerard's direction, making the man jump in surprise.

“I- I'm not a police man, really, I swear-”

“That doesn't answer my question.”

“Sorry, I'm a- an artist. A designer, kinda, I guess. Also illustrator. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get an employer sometimes-”

“That doesn't exactly sound like a job that we can use, Iero, this is bullshit!” He pulled his gun, not pointing it at Gerard, but the mere presence of it made Frank feel like the room temperature heated up, and the pressure was indescribable high all of the sudden.

“I was a student when you took me!” Frank argued, tense. “I was a fucking geek, even. And yet you trained me, made me this good.”

“But you were young, boy. You learned easily. This guy's- how old, 23?”

“27,” Gerard stated silently, and Frank wished he would have kept his mouth shut. Despite the stress of the whole situation Frank had to admit Gerard barely looked like 27, more like he was Frank's age, maybe even younger. 

“27!” Frank's boss shouted. “You're 27 and you spend a night in a comic book shop to read those fucking things? Pathetic! When I was 27, I had my own business started up, I was close to my first million, and you don't even have enough money to buy you a couple of ridiculous books?”

Frank could here Gerard gasp in indignation, and he intervened he could say something stupid. “But that just shows that he could be useful!” he asserted. “He's flexible. And smart enough to not get himself caught.”

“That's a poor argument, Iero.” And although he looked very displeased, he put his gun back in his pocket. “Fine. On your fucking responsibility. If he escapes, or if the cops turn up here, or if he does anything to anger me, you'll be the one killing him, got that?”

“Yes sir.” Frank felt like sighing in relief, but managed to suppress it and stay factual. “I promise you won't regret this.” 

“I better don't, or you will regret it even more than me. He will stay in the basement for several days, just so we can be sure he knows what's happening. We don't want him to panic and become violent in a kneejerk reaction, eh?”

“Understood, boss. He won't.”

“Good. You got anybody at home who's going to worry about your whereabouts?” The boss went over to Gerard, eying him suspiciously. “Anyone who would look for you? Girlfriend, wife, kids?”

“I, uh, I live alone.”

“Okay, that means we don't have to spread the message you're dead. Good. It's so much effort every time...” He smirked at Frank dirtily, making Frank's blood pressure rise in memory of his parents and look away quickly. “You can go now. I'm tired as fuck, gonna go to bed, and you motherfuckers better don't disturb me again.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

**

“Your boss, uh.. is a nice man,” Gerard said with an odd smile that left it unclear whether he was being sarcastic or just really bad at smalltalk.

“He's a dick,” Frank stated. It was the next day, around lunchtime, Frank was just visiting Gerard in the basement where he had left him last night, handcuffed. Frank had been so tired yesterday that he'd even forgotten to lock the door – luckily Gerard obviously had been pretty damn tired as well, so he hadn't tried to open the door. Frank would have been so screwed if he'd found the basement empty this morning, and he'd been killed, probably. “But I think he likes me. Or he did, he probably hates me after last night. Don't worry though, I know how to make it up again, he just needs to be treated in a very special way.” 

“Hey, man... Thank you. God, I would be dead right now if you hadn't saved me- I owe you one. Or more like I owe you a million, seriously. Thanks.” 

“It's okay.” That's all Frank could answer, he'd like to add a 'No big deal' or something, but that would be a lie, because it was hell of a big deal. Until now Frank still hadn't figured out what inside him had made him do the thing he had done, he even considered the coke to be the cause of this crazy idea, but even now, his system supposedly being clean again, it seemed like a good thing. He didn't regret arguing with his boss, risking all his privileges and even their gang's safety – it still seemed like the best decision he could have made yesterday. 

“So, uhm... Your name is Iero?” Gerard asked, eyes constantly on Frank.

“Yes. Frank Iero.”

“I like your tattoos, Frank,” Gerard stated with a pretty smile on his lips, and Frank couldn't help but smile back. 

“Thanks, man.” 

“Can I ask you something?... Why? Why did you save me?” Suddenly Gerard sat upright with a shimmer of nervousness in his face, but mostly curiosity. “Wouldn't it have been easier to just, you know, shoot me in that store?”

Frank thought about the question. He'd hoped Gerard wouldn't ask, but of course he did – Frank couldn't blame him. “I don't know...” He said, and he meant it. “I don't think it would have been easier to shoot you. I mean, I did kill several people before, but I've never _talked_ to them before. I never knew their names, or their personalities, it was easy to shoot and never think about them again. And I wasn't lying when I said there was something special about you. You don't deserve to be shot by some fuckers, just for wanting to read a few comic books.” Frank felt himself blush at the _You're special_ -part, and added “I like Marvel too, you know.” hoping it would make things less awkward. 

Gerard's smile grew wider. “So you really think I could become a criminal mastermind or something?”

Frank laughed at this, Gerard's innocence and naivety was kind of cute. “None of us here is anywhere close to being a criminal mastermind. Except for my boss, maybe – he's pretty clever and good at organizing shit.”

“But you opened that safe, right? Or was it that guy with you?” Gerard pushed.

“That guy's name is Bob, but yeah, it was me. But that's not a big deal, really, once you know what to do...”

“I think it's pretty impressive. And cool.”

“Cool?” Frank asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Never heard anybody say that.”

“Yeah, it's kinda cool, this whole thing is. Now that nobody wants me dead anymore, I mean. It's like in one of those movies, Frank, it's kinda exciting, actually.” Gerard's eyes widened as he spoke, kind of like when you talk to a kid about Christmas. 

Frank shook his head and grinned. “You're weird. And don't be too sure about that nobody wants to shoot you part, boss can be moody as fuck.” 

“But you'll protect me, right?” 

His words, the playful smirk on his lips and the way he batted his long lashes made Frank's heart feel oddly heavy, like something was on it, clutching it, but in a good way, an exciting way. It only lasted a short second before the feeling wandered from his chest to Frank's stomach where it spread, like thousands of tiny butterflies in his tummy. “I- I'll try,” he stuttered, his throat oddly dry all of the sudden. 

Gerard blushed at Frank's reaction and giggled silently, eyes on the floor. And just then Frank knew it _had_ been the right thing to do – Gerard was fucking adorable.


	4. Out of the basement and into Frank's room

The days went by with Frank barely leaving the basement anymore – except for getting food for himself and Gerard, and for sleeping. Every time he attempted going outside to spend time with any of the other gang members, although he didn't actually want to, he just thought he was going on Gerard's nerves, Gerard made him stay. _“Aren't you supposed to keep me company?”, “What if I escape while you're away? It's on your responsibility.”_ or a simple _“Please don't go.”_ \- everything worked. Frank found he really liked Gerard, maybe a little too much, and he grew happier he'd kept him from getting coldheartedly shot every day they spent with each other. Finally Frank had something like a friend again, somebody his age, well almost, Gerard was like 4 and a half years older than him and Bob was only 2 years older, but Bob was a mostly pissed off drug addict, and nobody Frank liked being in company with long-term.

Things were different with Gerard. They found they shared lots of interests, liked the same bands, had the same sense of humor. Frank hated how much Gerard depended on him though – he'd prefer talking to him outside, or simply in his room, or just anywhere that wasn't this shitty ass basement with countless layers of dust and _spiders_. That was a real proof of friendship right there, Frank hated spiders so fucking much. 

His boss had asked him a couple of times _“what on earth he was doing down there with the fucker all day long, he better fucking teach him a lot or somebody would get really angry”_ , only ever going outside to get food or cigarettes – and hell, he had to get a whole lot of cigarettes, Gerard turned out to be an even heavier smoker than Frank – and his boss really didn't like not knowing what the both of them were up to. He had visited Gerard multiple times himself already, making Frank leave the room and wait nearby, anxious Gerard would upset the guy and get himself hurt or worse, but Gerard had listened very well to all the tips and tricks Frank had told him on how to behave around the boss, so things turned out pretty well. He even congratulated Frank the other day for procuring such a decent guy, but he still didn't trust Gerard enough to let him out of the basement, and even insisted he needed to be handcuffed at all times, the only exception was when Gerard needed to participate in what Frank taught him. His boss believed it would be enough for Gerard to simply watch Frank to learn how to do shit, obviously that wasn't going to work, and there wasn't much Frank could teach him while Gerard had to stay in that basement, anyway. Frank didn't care about the handcuff-thing though – he took them of as soon as the both of them were alone, and felt really bad every time he had to secure the handcuffs around Gerard's wrists again. 

Turns out smoking with Gerard was one of the most relaxing things one could do. There was something about the way he exhaled the heavy smoke, lifting his head a little every time to watch it leave his mouth and vanish above his head that made Frank feel good. He was a really good story teller as well, and his voice was very pleasant to Frank, implying soon he knew all about Gerard's life. Unlike Frank, Gerard grew up in a rather poor neighborhood and never was a good student. He wasn't bad either, just kinda average, and he didn't get nearly as much support from his parents as Frank. Gerard had a younger brother called Mikey who he seemed to really like, but he lived far away just like his parents, and Gerard pitied he hadn't talked to him in several months. Mikey, despite his age, was a successful business man, with lots of money and influence. He'd offered Gerard money multiple times already, but Gerard was too proud to accept it, as far as Frank could judge that. He wasn't told what exactly his job was, something with politics, but Frank had no conceptions of politics anyway, so he guessed that was all he needed to know. According to Gerard, Mikey must be really influential, and Gerard was fucking proud of him. 

Gerard liked hearing Frank's voice too, apparently, because he kept encouraging him until Frank had told him his whole life story. 

It was almost 3 weeks after the incident in the bookstore that Frank was allowed to let Gerard out of the basement to start training him properly. Since they didn't have a spare room – and still not enough trust in Gerard to let him sleep somewhere on his own – the two of them had to share Frank's room. Bob had been able to rustle up an old mattress for Gerard so he didn't have to sleep in Frank's bed or on the floor, although, if Frank was completely honest with himself, he wouldn't even mind sleeping in a bed with Gerard. 

His sexuality had always been something Frank felt insecure about, unsure what it was that attracted him. In his early teenage-years, when his parents still watched over him, he'd felt this appeal towards other boys already, but back then he'd always managed to suppress it. He just didn't think about it, like, ever, so there couldn't form any thoughts in his head that didn't belong there.   
But as he grew older, and after accepting his life as a gang member, he came to the realization he was gay. Completely, truly and genuinely gay, but way too shy and apprehensive to admit it, and who the hell here would give a shit, anyway? His boss would probably laugh and call him a faggot, and he really didn't need that. He also didn't tell Bob because he didn't know Bob's opinion on boys liking boys, and Frank didn't dare to ruin the relation closest to a friendship he had.   
But now it was different. There was this super attractive guy with him who was really cool and sweet too, who was funny and cute and interesting. 

As much as the thought of Gerard sleeping in his room excited Frank, it also kind of scared him. Frank was a virgin, a fucking 22-year-old virgin, and it was something he really wasn't proud of. That and the incredible appeal he felt towards Gerard made the whole room-sharing-thing a little awkward for Frank, but he did his best to hide it. 

He tried to tell himself there was nothing to be nervous of – Gerard probably wasn't even gay, so there wasn't a single chance anything was going to happen between the two of them. 

Yet, there was this thick tension in the air when they went to bed in the same room for the very first time. Frank slept fully clothed, something he usually didn't do because he got really hot under the blanket, and hid in his bed as well as he could. Sleeping in his broxershorts, Gerard didn't seem to feel the tension, or he decided to ignore it. The mattress had been placed on the floor, couple of inches away from Frank's bed, practically right next to it, and the short distance made Frank feel even more nervous, yet he didn't want to ask Gerard to move the mattress because he really liked having him this close on the other hand.

“Your boss isn't afraid I might kill you in your sleep?” Gerard asked jokingly as the both of them lay in bed, the only light in the room came from the small lamp on Frank's bedside table. 

“ _Our_ boss now, you're working for him too. I don't think he'd care that much if you killed me as long as you don't tell the police about his criminal intrigues...” Frank lay on his back, looking at the naked ceiling, the blanket covering his whole body down from his chin. He'd started sweating already, yet he didn't even consider putting the blanket aside. 

“How come he's trusting me now? I mean, I'm not even pinioned or something.” Gerard, lying on his side and looking up at Frank's covered body, raised a brow, expectant.

“I don't know,” Frank admitted, allowing himself to throw a brief glimpse in Gerard's direction just to quickly look away again and make sure to keep his eyes on the ceiling – he couldn't handle looking at a half-naked Gerard without getting a hard-on, and that would be something the blank tightly warped around his body wouldn't cover up too well. “I don't think he trusts you, he might even hope you'll kill me just so he can prove his point.” When Gerard chuckled, Frank continued. “Don't laugh, that might be what he actually thinks.”

“Well, that's a shitty plan then, I won't kill you.” Gerard kept chuckling softly, sending a warm shiver down Frank's spine. “You saved my fucking life. And you're way too cute.” 

That forced Frank to look at him again, and he couldn't even look away. “Oh, I'm cute, huh?” he teased, grinning like mad. He decided to lay on his side as well so he could look back at Gerard without holding his head at an awkward angle – Gerard's appearance might make him nervous, but he wouldn't resist him flirting with him. That's what this was, right? Flirting? Frank wouldn't know, he'd never experienced it except for childish stuff with girls in primary school. But whatever it was that Gerard was doing, Frank liked it. 

“I do,” Gerard answered softly. “And I don't kill cute people.”

“That's comforting, Gerard,” Frank joked. Was it just his imagination or could he see the outline of Gerard's dick through his underwear? Oh god. Now he was growing nervous again, and tempted to turn to his other side with the back towards Gerard, but at the same time he wanted to keep talking to him for ever. “A-anyway,” he said some seconds later, clearing his throat and forcing his eyes meeting Gerard's, not his crotch-area. “I think he's changed his attitude towards you. Not fully, obviously, but I think he might trust you, sort of. He sees how much time I spend with you, and I'm still alive, and he sees that it's important to me. I think he kind of trusts me so he just relies on me having made the right decision? I don't know. But I think he will test you soon.”

“Test me? And how is that going to work?”

“I don't have a clue, maybe you'll have to show him what I taught you, or we'll break into a building together. Something like that. And once you've passed that test, he will involve you in this shit more and more – the both of us. Right now he wants me to take care of you so I don't have to participate in any burglaries. But I don't think he can do without me much longer, I'm one of his best men-”

“See, I told you you were talented,” Gerard interposed. 

“Being good at breaking into houses isn't something you can write in your résumé. It's nothing I'm proud of, Gerard,” Frank admitted, feeling ashamed.

Gerard shook his head. He still thought all of this was pretty damn cool, the little weirdo, he still thought this was some kind of movie. “I know, but it's not like you _chose_ to become a criminal, Frankie,” Gerard said, making Frank freeze at the pet name Gerard had never used before. “You were practically forced to do it, just like me. But still you managed to make the best out of it. I think that _is_ something you can be proud of.”

And with that he said something Frank hadn't been expecting, yet it was so endearing and kind that he blushed deeply, smiling at Gerard. “You know, at times like this I'm really glad I didn't shoot you. Thanks, Gerard.”

“Only at times likes this?” Gerard chuckled, then yawned and rubbed his eyes. 

“You wanna sleep?”

“Yeah, I'm tired. Tomorrow's gonna be exhausting, right?” Gerard asked with an undertone sounding hopeful Frank would tell him the opposite, but unfortunately Gerard was right.

“Probably, yeah. We'll have to practice lots of more shit, and then I will have to get a few things from town, cigarettes, beer, food, that kinds of stuff.” 

“Do you think I can come with you?”

Frank frowned. “I assume not. People in town may know you, you might know them, you might make them help you... I mean, I trust you, but boss won't.”

“Okay,” Gerard acknowledged his defeat, a pouting expression on his face. God, he looked cute like that. “Why do you always call him _boss_? Why not his real name?”

“Oh,” Frank made, thinking. “I... He wants us to call him boss, I guess. I'm not even sure I know his actual name, he really likes staying anonymous.”

“I see,” Gerard said, nodding. “Well, I'm going to sleep now. Good night, Frankie...” He yawned again, then closed his eyes.

“Night, Gerard,” Frank answered quietly. It took him several seconds to tear his eyes away from the peaceful face, so pretty and perfect – his body feeling weirdly light-weighed as he watched Gerard's chest rise and fall, slowly and calmly – to turn off the light. But even in the semi darkness, after his eyes had adjusted to it, he still could make out Gerard's figure. 

Frank didn't know how long he kept watching him, not even in a creepy way, just in a very loving manner, he thought. The last thing he could remember before falling into a light sleep was thinking how much he'd love Gerard to be with him in his bed, fuck his stupid anxiety, he didn't even want things to become sexual. Frank just wished he could feel Gerard's body rise and fall beside him, not just watch it from a suddenly way too far, not too small, distance, maybe put his hand on Gerard's chest to feel his heart beat regularly, perhaps even place his head on Gerard's shoulder – he just wanted to cuddle up close to him and absorb his scent.


	5. Breakfast

„Had a good night?“ Bob grinned at Frank, smugly and knowingly, he even dared to wink at him.

“Uh, yeah I guess?” Frank answered, frowning. “What the hell, man?”

“Boss told us you were sharing your room with that Gerard dude. So I was just wondering how it was like fucking his ass?” Bob sat down at the table, two slices of toast with cheese on his plate. Breakfast was Frank's favorite meal of the day – well, usually, it certainly wasn't if Bob tried to ask him about sexual intercourse that hadn't happened. 

“Bob, what the-”

“Or are you a bottom?” he continued, ignoring Frank's protesting face and taking a bite of his toast. “I don't really care, just thought topping would suit you better-”

“Bob, what are you talking about? Are you high again?” Frank pushed, clearly uncomfortable. 

The blonde one rolled his eyes and looked at Frank rather annoyed. “Oh come on, you've been spending, like, every minute together ever since he got here. It's not normal, you know, also the way you stood up for him. Everybody here thinks there's something between the two of you. And since he's _obviously_ gay-”

“He's gay?” Frank asked, maybe a notch too loud, but his surprise kept him from controlling his voice for a brief moment. A couple of Frank's gang members sitting near them turned their heads to look at Frank, just to throw dirty grins in his direction, some of them throwing in nasty comments like _”Hope his ass is tight enough for you.”,”Don't act like you didn't notice he's gay earlier, you must have noticed last night, Jesus.”_ or _”Whatever you do, keep the volume down, I really don't want to hear it.”_ It angered Frank, but embarrassed him at the same time, because none of the guys here knew nothing had happened, not ever, in fact, they were sharing the table with Frank Iero the virgin. 

“Guys, we didn't fuck-” Frank attempted to explain, but the rest of his sentence was swallowed by laughter from 10 different men. 

“Fuck you,” Frank growled, deciding to ignore them, and facing Bob again. “So... how do you know he's gay?”

“Come on, it's fairly unmistakable. The eyeliner he wore when we met him the first time, the way he talks sometimes, the way he swings his ass when he's walking, the way he _looks at you_. Don't act like you haven't noticed, don't act like you don't enjoy it.”

“Bob, seriously, there's _nothing_. I swear. Please don't-”

“Good morning, beautiful! Hope your ass isn't too raw?” That and repeated laughter made Frank's request never be heard as he and Bob spun around to see a confused, adorably sleepy looking Gerard enter the kitchen area. 

“My what?” he asked, voice tired and scratchy. Not even looking at anybody in particular he went over to the coffee maker and poured himself a big cup before searching for Frank, going to him to sit next to him at the table. 

He didn't respond to the other guys' comments, just giggled at some of the funny ones and threw amused looks in the guys' directions. 

“Sorry Gerard, they asked me the same shit already- Don't know what it's about.” Frank felt really awkward, like everybody in this room knew about the almost-boner he'd gotten from the view of Gerard in his boxers yesterday, and the desire to cuddle with him. He didn't understand how Gerard could stay as relaxed as he was – just drinking his coffee without giving a shit about the temperature, and not answering or talking to anyone before he had emptied it completely. 

“Pretty good at swallowing, aren't you?” Another one jested, making Frank blush even more. 

“Guys, please-” he started, but was interrupted by Gerard.

“Uh, depends,” he simply stated, looking directly at the guy who'd uttered the comment, smiling. “On the taste. And the guy.”

That seemed to shut up everyone at the table for a second before some of them returned to their stupid giggles. Wait, so was Gerard playing along, or was he _actually_ gay? Frank wanted to ask, really, but he was afraid it would come out rather desperate, and that's something he truly didn't want. 

The guy who'd made the last comment, Bert, smirked dirtily, then added. “What about me, would you swallow me?” 

That horrible laughter again, making Frank squirm in his chair and suddenly not hungry anymore at all. Frank had known Bert was gay – obviously he wasn't making it a big secret – but never had he thought Bert would whore himself out like this. And suddenly Frank was even gladder _he_ had kept his sexuality a secret for all those years because Bert asking him about his blowjob preferences during breakfast was something he could spare. He looked at Gerard from the corner of his eye, watched him just staying calm as if he'd been asked about the fucking weather or something. Wow, from what he first saw of Gerard, Frank had never thought Gerard was this _tough_. Sassy, even. On the other hand, Gerard had been held at gunpoint when Frank saw him first, one should assume people act a little differently in such situations. 

“Bert, drop the bullshit, we know you like dicks, no need to prove it,” another one said, patting Bert's shoulder and shaking his head. “I mean you can, later. Just not now, god.”

“You were the ones talking about Gerard getting fucked in the ass, excuse me if my fantasy wanders off a bit,” Bert countered, throwing hungry gazes at Gerard.

A sharp sting hit Frank right in the heart, his veins started to throb weirdly as he eyed Bert. He knew him, of course, living with him for almost 8 years. He hadn't been one of the guys who'd kidnapped Frank – no, he joined, or was forced to join, a couple of months later. Frank had never really talked to him though, only if necessary, if they had jobs to do or stuff like that, so Frank had always thought about Bert in a neutral way, but now, as he flirted with the man that Frank had developed, some kind of weird and yet unexplored, feelings – but they were still feelings, okay – Frank felt such a sudden boost of jealousy pumping through his body that he had to hide his hands in his crotch so the others wouldn't see how much they were shaking. 

The worst thing was Gerard's reaction. “Talking about me getting fucked in the ass?” he repeated with a raised brow and an amused smirk. “Woah, did I miss something here?”

“Don't avoid my question, honey,” Bert pushed. Okay, maybe Gerard's reaction wasn't the worst part – Bert being challenging and expectant was. “You can be completely honest.”

Gerard smirked and eyed him for a second, letting his eyes wander over Bob's long hair and his bearded face, his eyes that were so deep in his skull that Frank couldn't help but find him repellent. Or maybe that was not his face but the way he treated Gerard. “Mhm, maybe?” Gerard answered playfully, making Frank's stomach drop. _If_ he actually was just playing along, he was doing a fucking good job – hearing him talking like this convinced Frank he was gay. 100%. 

Bert chuckled. “We can turn that maybe into a yes later, if you want.” He winked at Gerard, then got up from the table and, fucking finally, left the kitchen.

Next to Frank Gerard chuckled and got up as well. For a second Frank feared he would actually go after Bert to blow him in the next emopty room they could find, but Gerard simply got himself another coffee. Frank used the opportunity of not having to explain to Gerard why he left, mumbled a quick “I'll be in my room” to Bob and left the kitchen with hurried steps, ignoring Gerard's confused “Where's Frankie?” when he had returned to the table. 

**

The tears were there at an instant, rolling down Frank's cheeks before he could force them away, thickly and heavily. Quickly he closed the door, pitying the fact that he couldn't lock it and that, with Gerard downstairs, possibly coming upstairs any minute, he didn't have any private sphere whatsoever. He sat down on his bed, forcing his breath to become steady again, whilst angrily rubbing the tears out of his eyes. 

He knew it was stupid to cry. Fuck, he was fucking 22, not 12. And maybe Gerard had only been joking. Maybe he wasn't even gay. Maybe this was just a joke Frank didn't understand. Maybe – probably, no, definitely – it was ridiculous that he was crying right now, crying over a man he had known for not even a month, a man he wasn't even in love with, totally not. It didn't make sense, Frank knew that. Yet his stupid eyes wouldn't cooperate, no matter how hard he tried, no matter for how long he hold his breath to stop those stupid sobs escaping his throat. 

After around 10 minutes that felt more like 2 hours, Frank had managed to calm down, and stopped crying. This was stupid. He'd dealt 22 fucking years without falling in love, he was alright on his own. And now, just because he'd met Gerard he wouldn't forget that, he still was Frank Iero, “A” student, smart, clever. He didn't need a Gerard. 

And all of that fell apart when that Gerard entered. “Hey, Frankie, are you okay?”

Frank nodded, avoiding his eyes. Just from hearing his voice, the voice he'd been hearing so much recently, the voice he'd learned to love, he felt the tears rise again. He couldn't talk now.

“You look upset...” Gerard noted, taking a seat next to Frank on his bed. “You sure you're fine?”

“I'm good,” Frank managed, fairly satisfied with the moderate steadiness in his voice. 

“Is it because of what those guys said?” Gerard asked, ignoring Frank's words. “Pretty ridiculous right? That Bert guy is outrageous.”

“Outrageous?” Frank repeated, now finally feeling strong enough to meet Gerard's eyes. He looked genuinely concerned, and it melted Frank's heart. Shit. “It sounded like he amused you.”

“Amused me? Well, I played my role well then. I don't know these guys – I just didn't want them to hate me right away. They thought it was funny, I needed to act like it _was_ funny. It's alright if you showed them you didn't like it – they've known you for several years, right? You can piss them off, but if I'm being a pussy the first time they talk to me, they won't accept me. And I don't want to be that guy.” Frank looked at Gerard, fascinated. It made sense, he guessed. Kinda. Frank was still hurt. “And at least that showed me they don't mind gays, right? Lots of people these days are horribly conservative. It's good to know there's another gay here. Not because I find him attractive or anything, it's just good to feel accepted-” He frowned, awaiting Frank's reaction, an insecure smile on his lips.

“Wait, so just to be clear,” Frank said, shifting uncomfortably. “You are gay, like actually gay...?”

“Definitely gay. Cock-sucking, ass-fucking gay.” Gerard nodded, grinning a little. “I hope you don't mind. I wouldn't want that to stand between us, you know, I really like you and I value you as a friend, like, so much.”

“It won't,” Frank responded, trying to ignore the sharp sting in his stomach as Gerard called him a _friend_ , although it was totally ridiculous again. “I'm- uh. Gay too.” It was surprisingly easy to tell him, although it was the first time ever that sentence left Frank's mouth, and it felt so good to finally say it.

“Oh.” Gerard said, his pretty lips forming a perfect O, and Frank couldn't help but feel like Gerard's smirk grew even wider at these words.


	6. Rivalry?

The house went silent when everyone had left to do the jobs they'd been told to do after breakfast. A silence Frank might have found creepy because it meant he was on his own in this big house – but now, with Gerard in front of him, smiling and good-looking as usual, he welcomed the silence very much. Frank's tears had disappeared what felt like hours ago, and now his heart beat so excitedly that a tiny part of his brain worried it might explode.

The other part was busy admiring Gerard's beauty – his honey-colored eyes, the clean pale skin, the way his soft-looking lips were almost always curled into that adorable smile. “What are you thinking?” Gerard asked quietly, whispered almost. 

“I-” Frank stumbled. He was barely able to form any words with this angel-like man in front of him. And then there was this tiny thought in his head, just the smallest bit of hope, that Gerard might kiss him. Frank noticed how close their faces were, how easy it would be to move just a little forward, just a tiny bit more to make their lips collide, and as he stared into Gerard's deep eyes he believed to see him thinking just the same. Just maybe.

But of course this beautiful, perfect moment would be interrupted. Frank cursed when the soft vibration of his phone filled the room – soft but, considering Frank was severely sure it was his boss calling him, kind of urgent, breaking the mood Frank had been enjoying so much. The phone had been given to Frank four years ago, and it was old as hell, and it didn't have internet, and the only person Frank could call or receive calls from was his boss.

“Sorry...” he said, and he truly was, as he pulled away and got his phone out of his pocket. “That's our boss.”

“Better get that, then,” Gerard said and nodded, casually licking over his lips just to make Frank aware of what he'd missed, of what he almost could have had. That's what the younger man interpreted into the gesture, anyway.

Frank bit his lip, allowing himself to admire Gerard for one brief second, before he pushed the Accept Call button and pressed the phone against his ear. 

“Yes?”

“Where are you, Iero?” his boss barked, so loud into Frank's ear that it made him jump a little. 

“I-I'm in my room, sir, I'm with-” 

“Get your ass down here, I got a job for you. You were allowed to use the past weeks for your enjoyment, now I need you again, and you better fucking hurry. Bring that other guy with you.” 

“Understood, sir,” Frank said politely, but his boss had already hung up on him, so Frank just shrugged and put the phone back in his pocket. “We need to hurry, we need to do something for him,” he explained to Gerard, got up, grabbed his gun – just in case – and almost ran towards the door, Gerard's slightly hesitant footsteps following him.

“What kind of job does he have for us?” Gerard asked when they were going downstairs.

“I have no idea. Guess we'll have to wait until he tells us.” 

**

“There you are!” Frank's boss was angry yet again, Frank wondered why he couldn't just chill for, like, 5 minutes, because what the hell was his problem now? He had ended the call about 1 minute ago, Frank and Gerard had hurried downstairs immediately – he should be glad they were available that quickly. Frank said none of that, of course, he couldn't risk angering his boss even further or he might change his opinion about Gerard.

Frank couldn't help being a little salty at him for ruining what might have been Gerard's and his special moment, and also Frank's very first kiss, but of course his boss hadn't been able to know that, and even if he had, Frank assumed he wouldn't give a single fuck. 

“Yes, sir. What can we do for you?” Frank asked as kindly as he could, yet again folding his hands behind his back to let boss know he was in charge and Frank was ready to serve, and after a short glimpse at Gerard who had placed himself next to Frank, Frank could see Gerard had copied him. 

“There's a client who wants to buy some of our shit. I need you to bring it to him – he lives two or three hours from here. You need to bring him a sample of our coke, Iero, and you need to do it fast, because he's, like, fucking important, a business partner who could get us millions, do you understand? There are a lot more interested parties who want to sell their cocain, we need to be first, and we need to be best. Now, do I need to explain it any further or is your narrow brain able to comprehend?!”

God, he was fucking nasty again. “Yes, sir. We will deliver it as fast as possible.”

“So what are you waiting for?! McCracken's waiting in the car already, he's got the coke – get your ass _moving_!”

_McCracken_. As in _Bert_ McCracken. Oh why in hell would he be the one joining them?

“The _three_ of us are driving there? Wouldn't one or two be en-”

“I was going to send you and him, but since your fellow is supposed to learn shit he'll come with you.” He glanced at Gerard briefly, then made an impatient gesture that portended them to join Bert in the car. 

The boss left without a further word, heading towards the building, so Frank sighed and he and Gerard went over to the car. Bert was behind the wheel so Frank made sure it was him who rode pillion – hoping that would reduce Bert's flirting with Gerard, who had sat down behind Frank. 

“Hello again, pretty,” Bert said, leaving Frank completely ignored. He turned around on his seat to look at Gerard and smiled at him feverishly. “What a coincidence the two of us are chosen to do the job together, huh?”

“And Frank,” Gerard answered, Frank could hear him smirking although he wasn't looking at him, and he smiled too. If Gerard had been honest earlier about the thing that he only responded to Bert the way he had because he didn't want to be the outcast or something, he should act very differently now, without all the other guys around them. Frank would love to see how Bert realized that Gerard wasn't going to suck his cock, and he hoped he would be really fucking disappointed. 

“And Frank,” Bert repeated, grinning weirdly as he glanced at Frank next to him briefly. “He's on the wrong seat, unfortunately... What do you say, the two of you change and you can take care of my dick while I drive? You wouldn't mind Frank, would you?”

“Uh, no,” Gerard answered unemotionally, and Frank believed to hear bitterness in his voice. Bert was fucking bold for assuming Gerard was a slut like this, and it angered Frank just as much as Gerard. “Shouldn't you be driving, by the way? Boss made the job sound urgent.”

“You're such a tease,” Bert commented, shaking his head but starting the engine. Frank smiled to himself – go Gerard, show him he can't just assume shit like that. Either Bert was actually thinking he was attractive as fuck so he could demand blowjobs from people he barely knew, or Bert was just as desperate for touch as Frank but just a little more outgoing. Whatever it was that made him talk to Gerard like that, Frank didn't like it. Frank didn't like him. 

“So,” Gerard said after a few minutes of silence, and Frank was happy to hear he started a whole new topic, not even responding to Bert's pathetic tries in any way. “Aren't you guys scared the cops are going to catch us?”

“No way man,” Bert answered before Frank could even open his mouth. “Even if they pull us over, it's just a tiny amount of coke we're transporting... and I've hidden it really well, they won't find it.”

“Where did you hide it, then?” Gerard asked, sounding actually curious.

“My pants.” Of fucking course. Bert laughed for a few seconds, alone, before he continued talking. “No, I'm serious. It's actually in my pants, so even if they were suspecting something and, let's assume, search the car, they wouldn't find it. Pretty smart, huh? It's funny how you keep talking about things that are related to my peni-”

“Wowow, you started that shit,” Gerard interrupted. “How the fuck was I supposed to know you're weird enough to hide drugs in your underwear, man?”

“Maybe I should have hidden it up your ass instead,” Bert chuckled and Gerard gasped in indignation, yet his voice sounded calm when he spoke again.

“Bert, please, can you not talk to me like this? It's making me really uncomfortable, seriously.”

Bert glanced at Frank. “It's because of him, right? It's okay honey, Frank won't judge you, I know him. He's totally cool-”

“Yeah I know he's cool, it's not about him, it's about you. I don't want you to try to talk me into giving you head or stick things up my butt, Bert.”

“Whatever, we'll just continue-”

“No,” Frank exhaled. God, Bert was pissing him off so much, and he just didn't noticed Gerard wasn't playing his stupid game. “Bert, Gerard _does not want it_ , you hear me? He said no, and if you keep talking shit like that, one could call it sexual harassment, so you better fucking cut the bullshit now.”

“Okay, okay,” Bert sighed, grabbing the wheel a little more forceful and driving faster. “But, Frank, you seem to not understand how fucking _attractive_ Gerard is, fuck, for a guy like me it's barely possible to not press him against the closest wall and fuck his brains out-”

“Fucking hell, Bert!” 

“Sorry, I'll shut up.” And now he was fucking pissed off, was he fucking serious? Frank sighed, annoyed at the fact that Bert was just a fucking moron and he had to spent the day with him, but also at himself for working himself up into the discussion and not just letting Gerard deal with it – he was 27 and therefore obviously able to handle the problem himself – but Frank just couldn't help it, Bert annoyed him so unbelievably much. He kind of regretted it now though, because what if Bert now started to think Frank was guarding Gerard or something, maybe even started to suspect Frank was _liking_ Gerard? One of the things Frank could really do without was a jealous Bert making his life even more miserable.


	7. Welcome to Scranton

About one and a half hours later, after telling the others the place they had to go – because they'd noticed their boss was in such a hurry and the need to insult Frank instead of telling him where exactly the drugs needed to be delivered to, luckily Bert was better informed – Bert had wanted Frank to drive. Frank had agreed, he liked driving, and, under the condition Bert wasn't going to try groping Gerard or something, he'd been totally fine with taking over.

So there they were now, Frank behind the wheel and concentrating on the rather busy road, Bert next to him on the passenger seat with his hands obediently on his own lap, looking out of the window, and Gerard on the backseat, asking questions every now and then, kinda reminding Frank of a little child. Except that would mean Frank and Bert were the parents, and that's something Frank really couldn't come to terms with. Plus, little children mostly didn't ask about dealing drugs.

“You've done something like this before?” Gerard asked, leaning forward a little to be heard over the loud driving noises that the freeway caused.

“Sold coke? Yeah,” Frank said. Now that Bert was salty he actually got the opportunity to answer, which he really liked, because talking to Gerard had become one of his favorite things to do. “But boss said this was a really big deal, and I don't think I've ever done that. He usually does important things like this himself, I think – you know, when the customers are really influential and essential or something, when he's afraid we could mess it up. I don't know why he lets us do it this time...”

“I've done this before,” Bert announced proudly. “I helped him once when he sold coke to this really prestigious dude, so don't worry, I know how things work.”

“Okay. Good,” Gerard commented. “Because I gotta admit, I'm kind of nervous.”

“Oh, don't be,” Bert said soothingly, turned around and smiled at Gerard. “I've got it. You don't need to do anything but stand there and look pretty, and you're really fucking good at that, I tell you.”

“Thanks,” Gerard chuckled, making it hard for Frank to concentrate on the road. Now he was responding to Bert...?

“No problem, honey, just the truth.” Bert giggled briefly before, finally, turning around again, continuing to stare out the window.

“So, how _is_ it going to work?” Frank asked, trying to sound neutral. “We're meeting the guy, give him the sample, and leave, or what?”

“Kinda,” Bert said. “Boss told me he wanted me to do the talking. You two just need to stand behind me, you know, kind of like bodyguards. I think he wants it to look more professional? And it's saver. You got your gun, right?”

“'Course. But Gerard doesn't have one.”

“Oh, should I give him mine while were there...?”

Gerard shook his head heavily. “God, no. I don't know how to shoot anyway... I wouldn't be able to. You keep it, Bert.”

“You don't know how to shoot?” Bert repeated, gazing at Frank. “Uh, you do know you were supposed to teach him shit like that, right? You wouldn't believe how pissed off boss was for having to release you from duty for all those weeks – and if he finds out you spent that time teaching Gerard nothing, he's gonna-”

“Bullshit, I did teach him stuff!” Frank argued, driving a little faster than he should, considering his anger. “But there wasn't much to do in that basement, okay? Also, I didn't want to start by teaching him how to fucking kill people... We started with the easier shit, you know, opening doors, that kind of stuff. Don't act like I've been a lazy ass wasting the time, fucker.”

“But Frank, shooting is _elementary_! Boss relied on you, he's not gonna be happy to hear Gerard can't even deal with guns.” Bert crossed his arms in front of his chest, and Frank actually played with the thought of pulling over as soon as possible and make his fist meet Bert's nose, but after taking one deep breath he decided that wouldn't be the smartest thing to do.

“Look,” he said, voice shaking with tension, “Don't make this a big deal. I swear to fucking god, Gerard and I used, like, every free second for shit like that. And I will teach him how to handle weapons, eventually. He's gotten out of the basement literally yesterday – When were we supposed to do that? Do us all a favor and don't tell boss about it, it's just a waste of his time, anyway.”

“So you're asking me to keep my mouth shut?” Bert asked, his ugly ass grin back on his ugly ass face. “What can you offer me for staying silent?”

Frank growled. “Nothing, Jesus Christ, Bert. If boss thinks I'm not working on Gerard he might decide we're not in need of him and kill him. And that's something you and I don't really want, right?”

“Me neither, by the way.” Gerard sounded rather hurt. “Like, I'm right here, I can here you talking about me. And it really isn't Frank's fault, Bert... Please don't tell your boss about it-”

“Fine,” Bert grumbled. “But you better learn quick, or I'll let him know.”

**

Frank was as happy as one could be when they arrived in Scranton, Pennsylvania after an almost three hour's drive. He felt exhausted – not because driving was particularly tiring, but Bert's presence was. His stupid threats about telling their boss about Frank _”not doing a proper job”_ , which was total bullshit by the way, Frank really put a lot effort in training Gerard, then his ridiculous assaults on Gerard the whole time, and then his pissed off silence that kept Frank on the edge constantly, because who knew what that fucker would do next.

Scranton was a nice city, as far as one could judge from driving through it once. Bert happened to know it was the home of approximately 76.000 inhabitants, one of them being Chris Cerulli, lead singer of the metalcore band _Motion in White_ , a musical group Bert happened to be a fan of. It annoyed Frank Gerard knew that band as well and they ended up talking about it for half an hour while Frank had to push his way through the traffic, that now, around lunchtime, was rather busy. Bert had told them they'd meet this guy, who wanted to stay anonymous for now and was to be simply called _”Mister”_ \- he was smart enough to not let his maybe-business partner's stooges know his actual name – on a public parking area. Obviously both parties didn't trust one another yet, nobody had wanted to meet the other in some kind of forest where their screams wouldn't be heard. Bert insisted on taking their guns with them anyway – you never knew what kind of fuckers you were about to meet. Just in case.

After what seemed like ages of poking along the streets, during which Frank even had to endure Bert offering Gerard to listen to _Motion in White_ together some day, and Gerard even fucking accepting his offer, but hey, Frank wasn't Gerard's boyfriend or something, wasn't like he could forbid him spending time with that filthy sap, he finally pulled in the parking lot. It was empty apart from two cars, and those looked far too innocent to be owned by a professional drug dealer. Then again, Frank and the others had come here with a rather casual looking Toyota to draw no attention to themselves, so maybe that was the other guy's tactic as well. Also, there were supposed to be other parties trying to sell their coke, so maybe those were these guys' cars?

But they turned out to be empty, in fact no human soul was to be seen on the parking area, so Frank decided they were just really early, and therefore had done a good job.

“I'm going to smoke a cigarette,” he announced and got out of the car. God, he needed the nicotine so much. Gerard followed him immediately, and of course Bert, being a heavy smoker himself, accompanied them. Frank had silently hoped to be able to spend three minutes alone with Gerard, but Bert wasn't having that.

“Have you ever, you know, snorted? Done cocain?” Gerard asked after the three of them had lit a smoke each, taking a deep drag of his cigarette.

“Uh, yeah,” Frank said, inhaling the smoke before continuing. “Couple of times. Kinda becomes routine, I guess...”

Bert nodded, and Gerard looked rather relieved. “Okay, that's good. Because- uh, I kinda took that shit too some years ago, and I was hoping I could... get some?”

“You need to ask boss for that,” Bert stated. “He decides what shit you take and what not. You need to earn the drugs, you need to earn everything.”

“Earn the drugs? What is he, your master? You only work for him, Christ, he can't tell you what to do-” Gerard protested, but got interrupted by Bert.

“Yeah, he can. And he's _our_ boss now, so you might need to accept it, okay?”

“What if I don't want to? What if I, say, just turned around now, ran away, called the cops on you?” Gerard said, a playful smirk on his lips. Frank knew he wasn't going to, and he was kinda amused by how red Bert's face turned just at the thought of this.

“You better don't,” he barked, exhaling the smoke. “We would find you, and we would take you down, Gerard. Don't even try.”

Frank chuckled. “Why so serious all of the sudden, Bert?”

“You think that's funny, huh?” Bert said. Now, all serious and kind of angry, he did actually look intimidating as he took one step towards Frank and blew the smoke in the shorter one's face. “Just so you know, bringing this Gerard guy with you has made boss distrust you, and he's given me the permission to shoot you, and him, if you do anything stupid. So you better start taking this job serious, because you're really in need of earning some plus points.”

That had its effect on Frank – he had felt his boss had treated him differently ever since he decided to save Gerard's life, he was distant and Frank couldn't twist him around his finger that easily anymore – but hearing Bert'd been given the permission to _shoot_ Frank hurt. It hurt even though Frank hated being forced to be in that gang, and he hated his boss, and Bert even more, and usually he wouldn't have cared if it hadn't meant that he was this unimportant. He had always thought he was good at what he was doing, and even his boss had told him so, but if he gave Bert – _Bert_ the fucker that looked like he never really washed his hair or brushed his teeth or did anything other than drink beer, take drugs and masturbate – the permission to just end Frank's life it meant he was replaceable, right?

Bert smirked at Frank's facial expression. “That's right, Frankie, that's where you stand. Do you understand that?”

So provocative, with his face inches away from Frank's, still fucking smirking. No, Frank was not going to give him that. Frank wasn't just going to say _”Yes, Bert.”_ , it was bad enough that he had to kiss his boss' arse, he really didn't need to submit himself to Bert as well.

“I asked you a question,” Bert growled. “Don't you-”

“Guys.” Gerard's nervous voice made the both of them stare at him, Frank being incredibly grateful he had gotten him out of that situation. “That might be them, don't you think?”

Now the squabblers saw it too, one of those huge black cars with tinted windows, similar to the one Frank's boss owned as well, parking a couple of meters away from their car, but nobody got out.

“Yeah, must be them,” Bert answered, suddenly really focused and jumpy, as he placed his body that their car was blocking the view whilst he got the pouch of coke _actually_ out of his underwear. “Come after me.”

Unnaturally determined he made his way towards the black car, the coke now in his back pocket. He stopped three meters before it and waited, Frank and Gerard behind him.  
Frank's heart started to beat heavily as all the car doors were opened at the same time and four men got out of it, with black suits and black sunglasses, and they were really intimidating. Frank hoped everything was going to work out fine, and that their boss was going to be pleased with their work, and that Bert wasn't going to tell him lies about him and Gerard, and he prayed he wouldn't have to use his gun against those well-dressed men now, because he was pretty damn sure he would not be able to save Gerard from receiving a bullet through the head a second time.


	8. Last chapter before it gets smutty

„Nice to meet you, sirs,“ Bert said as soon as the men were near enough, one man with a remarkable afro stood a little closer to them than the others, making Frank assume he was the “Mister” guy and the other three his bodyguards because they came to a halt behind the man with the funny hair, motionless and with their arms crossed before their chests. Frank thought they were doing a way better job than Gerard and him bodyguarding Bert – it probably looked rather poor in comparison to be honest, Frank being short and nervous, Gerard being just a little taller and rather clueless.

“My name is Bert McCracken.” Holding out his hand and waiting for the afro man to shake it, Bert paused and looked at the guy. When it got awkward 5 seconds later, the man not making a move to return the gesture, Bert cleared his throat and put his hands in his pockets. “And this is, uh, Gerard Way, and that's Frank Iero, and in behalf of our boss we want to thank you for taking the time-”

“Are you going to sell us the stuff, or are we going to keep talking until a cop comes along?” The man hissed, leaving Bert speechless for three seconds.

“Oh. No, sir, of course, I'm sorry. But we don't want to sell it to you, we want to give you the sample for free. You know, so you can make sure the quality is excellent.” Bert reached out for the coke in his back pocket and offered it the man with an insecure smile.

“For free?” The man repeated, accepting the pouch. “How do I know it's not poisoned? I've never received a sample for free... That's suspicious, you know.”

“Poisoned, sir?”

“You don't look exactly trustworthy, uh, _Bert_ ,” the afro man said, and Frank had to hold his breath to not break into laughter because Bert had tried so hard, and now that son of a bitch got what he'd deserved.

Bert was speechless for multiple seconds yet again, and Frank, having decided he liked the guy, took the opportunity to speak himself. He knew Bert didn't want him to but he honestly didn't give a fuck – they weren't seeming like professionals anyway, so why should he keep his mouth shut? He wasn't a selfish or narcissist kinda guy but he was convinced he could handle giving that shit to them way better than Bert, who _apparently_ , had even accompanied his boss doing kind of the same thing before.

“It's not poisoned, man,” Frank said. He knew it wasn't polite but they weren't talking about stocks or something here, it was fucking cocaine. “We can prove it if you want us to, you know, snort a line or whatever.”

The curly-haired man smiled at Frank rather curious, looking kind of surprised to hear him talk because, according to his facial expression when Frank opened his mouth, it really was unusual for the bodyguards to talk. Well, Frank and Gerard weren't bodyguards, anyway, actually, they were on he same level as Bert, but with Bert acting up like this, of course the others couldn't know that.

“Sounds like a plan, boy,” the guy said. “Come here.”

Frank nodded, loosing the tension because these guys seemed to be alright, and watched the man take a knife out of his back pocket, then spreading the coke in one very thin line on the blade, just as Bob had done it on that night they had met Gerard.

“Go ahead,” he encouraged, holding out the knife for Frank to reach. Trying to ignore the fact that a stranger was holding a knife literally an inch away from his face, and that Frank could do nothing other than rely on him not having a bad day or something, the young man pressed one of his fingers against his nose so the right nostril was closed, and used his other one to snort the drug.

He did it a little too fast and harsh, leaving his sinuses burning just lightly because, luckily, it had been a thin line. “Ah, shit,” he cursed, sniffing.

“Good stuff, eh?” The man before him asked, grinning.

Frank nodded and gave him a thumbs up. “Definitely, mister.”

“What was your name again?” he asked whilst cleaning the knife with a handkerchief before putting it back in his back pocket.

“Uh, Frank, sir. Frank Iero.”

“I like you, Frank. You may call me Ray.” And with that Ray offered Frank his hand which Frank shook pridefully, almost being able to hear Bert's heart beating faster in anger and jealousy.

“Thank you, Ray. Soo, after I've proven our coke isn't lethal, how are you going to decide who you're going to make business with?” He knew it was a blunt question, and there was a big opportunity Ray wasn't going to give him any answer at all, Frank still dared to ask. His motivation was angering Bert even more by showing him he could almost smalltalk with that “Mister”, to show him he, Frank, was worthy of his boss' respect, not Bert, Bert wasn't even able to give somebody cocaine _for free_.

Ray grinned. He obviously liked Frank's guts, and his straightforwardness, which contrasted so well with Bert's fuss. “Well, my people in the laboratory are going to analyze the different samples. We'll have it tested by several consumers. But it also depends on how much the sellers have convinced me, and you're doing a decent job so far, Frank.”

Frank chuckled. “Oh, that's nice. Thanks!”

Bert cleared his throat. “Okay, if you don't mind- we gotta head back, three hours of driving ahead of us. Frank can't drive anymore after taking drugs, so it'll be _me_ to stir the wheel...”

“Oh, you can let me drive,” Gerard interrupted. “I got driver's license too, you know.”

“It's fine, pretty boy, I got that-”

“Yeah, maybe you can discuss that later. Wentz, we're going back in the car. Other interested parties should turn up in the next couple of minutes, but we're going to wait here on the parking area.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good bye, Frank, I'll be happy to talk to you soon again. Have a good way home!” Ray smiled before turning away and heading towards his car, followed by his three bodyguards.

“Thank you, sir, uh Ray,” Frank could answer before the car doors were shut again, leaving the three of them standing on the parking area all by themselves.

When Frank turned around he tried to force his smug smile down, but god, he felt way too pleased with himself to not at least grin dumbly. This talk was exactly what he'd been needing, and when he glanced at Gerard briefly he noticed him smiling at him as well.

Bert did not look pleased though. Not at all. His by the anger grimaced face and the throbbing vein on his forehead showed Frank _how_ displeased he was, and it made hiding his enjoyment even harder.

“Get in the car,” Bert exhaled, storming off like some disappointed mother who was going to scold her kids.

Gerard and Frank followed, and in the 20 seconds they were by themselves, Gerard managed to whisper a “Well done showing that jerk who's boss here.” before they opened the doors and took their seats in the car again, Frank in the front next to Bert, Gerard on the backseat.  
Suddenly Frank was feeling amazing, and not only because of the truly excellent coke kicking in, or because of his success over Bert, but also because Gerard had proved he was on _his_ side, and that combined with that moment this morning made Frank's heart beat faster, and the grin on his face even wider, lovestruck.

**

“That was really cool today,” Frank could hear Gerard's voice behind the comic book he was reading. After the successful – probably successful from what Ray had said to Frank – deal this noon, and after Bert had managed to keep his anger under control after Frank had assured him that now Ray was going to become their boss' business partner and they'd managed that together and he, Bert, had done an amazing job as well, the three of them had halted near a bookstore. Bert found they were far enough from where they'd met Gerard, so nobody would recognize him here, so all of them had gone inside, and Gerard, being completely in his element with all those comic books around him, had gone a little crazy and almost begged Frank to buy him a few. He himself didn't have any more money than the $5 he had had with him when he went to that bookstore in his hometown, and that money had been confiscated by their boss of course, together with his mobile phone and ID. Frank, being on a high, mentally and physically, had agreed of course, and given him $60 he'd gotten from their boss a few days ago. And, needless to say, Gerard had spent it all – and now there was this remarkable pile of comic books next to the mattress he was sleeping on.

“Me buying you all those comics or the part before that?” Frank chuckled, stubbing out a cigarette from one of the packets he had bought for himself in the ashtray on his nightstand before looking at Gerard.

“Both,” Gerard answered, grinning as well. “Thanks again. But I was referring to the way you talked to that Ray guy, you should've seen Bert's face, Frank. The way he talked to you before, and then you doomed him. Amazing.”

“Doomed? I think you might have been reading to many comic books lately. But yes, it felt so nice that Ray liked me and insulted Bert's ugly ass face before. And we kinda soothed him in the car afterwards, right?”

“I guess, yeah,” Gerard murmured. “Bet he's still pissed though.”

“I know. He'll probably tell boss about it, most definitely make it sound like I degraded him or something.”

“But that would be a lie,” Gerard argued, actually putting the comic away, but not without a reluctant sigh. He was in his underwear again, Frank liked to assume he always slept half-naked and that he would be able to enjoy the view for a long, long time. “And if your boss gets angry at you, I can witness how it really was.”

“Nah, I wouldn't want you arguing with him. I'll deal with it. Bert is pissed at you too now, I reckon...”

“But he really behaved like an assface! God, I hate it when he talks to me like that. I mean, he is an okay guy, I think, if he doesn't tell me to suck his cock or something like that. He assumes I'm just gonna let him fuck me or what? Jesus.” He looked generally upset and, Frank couldn't deny, really cute, pouting in his underwear.

“Yeah, he's a dick,” Frank agreed. “I'm glad he doesn't know I'm gay too, he'd probably never stop suggesting threesomes.”

Frank smiled when Gerard laughed at that. “You're lucky you were able to keep it a secret. When Bob asked me about my sexuality, I should've just said nothing, or lied, because that shit is awful, man.”

“Wait, when did Bob ask you that?” Frank asked, frowning.

“Oh, a couple of days ago, when I was still in that basement. You and the boss were not the only ones visiting me, you know?” Gerard smiled.

“Well, that makes sense now. Bob tried to tell me he could tell by your appearance you were gay – which would've been super stupid because I'm gay too, and that would mean he knew about my sexuality as well, you know. But if he'd asked you before, well, I understand now.” Frank told Gerard, shaking his head grinning while thinking about Bert trying to fool him. “Wait, so was there someone else visiting you besides the three of us?”

Gerard nodded. “Bert. Frank, don't look at me like that – It's not like something happened between us. But he came shortly after I had told Bob about being gay, so I guess that attracted him. Like, he's a scavenger and I'm a dead rabbit.”

Frank's suddenly jealous-looking face turned into a wide grin at that. “What a beautiful metaphor.”

“I know right? Anyway, it's just annoying that he keeps talking to me like I'm his prey – he even called me _pretty boy_ today. It's fucking ridiculous. Thanks for standing up for me.”

“Anytime, pretty boy,” Frank chuckled, and Gerard gave him the finger, grinning himself.

“Oh, fuck you.”

“I'm joking. But I did mean the Anytime.” Frank's heart filled with warmth when he saw Gerard's satisfied smile and then how he picked up the comic and his tired eyes continued reading.

“Thank you, Frankie.”


	9. Adventures at 3AM

„Frank?“  
   
A not too joyful groan escaped Frank's throat when somebody shouted his name in the middle of the amazing dream he'd just had. Okay, maybe not _shouted_ , but the voice disturbed the perfect silence that had been surrounding Frank before, and the more he thought about the disruption, the more upset he got and the quicker the images of the dream faded until he managed to open one eye, reluctant, just to see complete darkness.  
   
So it was, in fact, the middle of the night, Frank guessed. Who would wake him up? Christ, Frank hated being woken up.   
   
“Frankie?”   
   
Frank grunted to make the nag acknowledge he was awake. He didn't bother thinking about who it was, and for a good 30 seconds he even forgot where he was, or who he was sharing a room with – and now, although it would take some more minutes for half-asleep Frank to figure out, he was even sharing a bed with that person.   
   
He could hear a soft chuckle very close to his ear, the unexpected nearness made the last vague images of his wonderful dream disappear completely, and with those the memories of it. Because, of course, anytime you had a nice dream somebody would wake you up, so abruptly you wouldn't be able to remember the dream again, leaving you with a very unsatisfied feeling.   
   
“Frank, why are you in my bed?”   
   
“I- what?” Frank's other eye snapped open as well and when he turned his head, he saw the dark figure of Gerard Way, or more like his head, because he was too close to see his whole body. And now he saw Gerard hadn't been lying. Frank looked around, confused, to see his bed just inches away from him, the blanket hanging from it, touching the floor and desolate, so Frank had definitely been sleeping there before. But why was he here now? Next to Gerard, who – oh god, Frank had forgotten he was in his underwear, and he himself was wearing nothing more than shorts as well, and suddenly the whole situation became fucking arousing for Frank, way more than he'd liked it, all unprepared and sleepy, but his cock didn't seem to mind about the time as he could feel it twitching and suddenly growing bigger.   
   
“Well, or _on my mattress_ , if precision is important to you at, like, 3AM,” Gerard said, sounding amused.   
   
“I- oh man, sorry. I don't know how I...” Frank could feel his cheeks blush and he shifted nervously, but for some reason not making a move to get back into his bed, and Gerard didn't seem to want him gone either.   
   
“It's fine. You probably fell out of it or something – I'm lucky you didn't land _on_ me.” Was it Frank's imagination or did Gerard scoot closer whilst speaking? Not that they had been pretty far away from each other before that – their shoulders had been touching the whole time. But now Frank could feel Gerard's legs touching his, just lightly, and luckily Frank was on his back so there wasn't the possibility Gerard might touch his by now semi hard-on – Frank hoped so, at least.   
   
“Probably,” Frank mumbled. His palms were getting sweaty, and now he realized he was lying _under a blanket with Gerard_ , implying Gerard must have covered Frank while he still was sleeping so he wouldn't get cold, and that was too cute for Frank to handle at fucking 3AM. “Sorry for waking you, I should, uh...”  
   
“Well, I woke you up too, so we're even I guess,” Gerard stated, and Frank could hear the adorable grin on his lips. “Then again, you woke me up first, so...”  
   
“So...?” Frank asked, looking into the dark where he assumed Gerard's eyes to be. Now that his eyes had gotten used to the darkness, he could see him a little better. He offered Gerard a small, rather insecure smile which he hoped the other boy could see. There was something in Gerard's voice that made Frank's heart skip several beats, he was sure of that, and it got him and his member maybe a little too excited.  
   
“So I think you should, uh, make it up to me?” Gerard seemed even closer, even more intimate, and his voice sounded so playful and flirty by now that it left Frank speechless and only able to nod.   
   
“That a Yes?” Gerard asked. “You need to talk to me, Frankie, I can barely see you...”  
   
“It's a definite Yes,” Frank exhaled. Damn, why did Gerard manage to sound so sexy and Frank's voice was more like an exhausted athlete who'd just finished a marathon?   
   
Gerard chuckled again, and then Frank could actually feel Gerard's hand on his chest, or more like Gerard's finger, drawing tiny circles on Frank's skin and leaving Frank feeling tingly and warm. “Sounds good to me. You know, Frankie, this might be not the right time to say this – in the dead of night, I mean – but... I don't know. I'm just going to say it, okay?”  
   
“Okay,” was all Frank could utter, and he didn't even care how raucous his voice still was. Screw that dream he had had before, this shit was way better than anything Frank could have thought of. If this was reality – and Frank hoped it would be, but he kinda doubted it, it was just too good to be true – Frank's life was about to improve by, like, 1000% in the next couple of minutes.   
   
“Okay,” Gerard repeated, his fingers coming to a halt as he placed his flat palm on Frank's chest. “This might be weird, and I hope it doesn't, but I feel like I can tell you because I trust you, and also because I think you might feel the same-”  
   
Frank placed his hand on Gerard's, stroking it softly to calm him. God, he was the cutest.   
   
Gerard chuckled at Frank's touch and Frank felt like it had reassured him because he know talked a little faster and more confidently. “Ever since I met you, I've been liking you. Well, not from the very beginning, to be honest – I didn't really fancy you when you were pointing a gun at me – but then I got to know you, and you stood up for me so fucking amazingly, and you protected me, and I love talking to you, and just being with you in general. And now that I know that you're, you know, gay, it's really hard to keep those feelings to myself. I know it's strange to tell you this right after you woke up, but I feel like it might be hard to find another opportunity. You know, now that boss wants to include you again, and me too, probably. And we met in a very unusual way, so why not open my heart to you in an unusual way as well? What I'm trying to say is... I think I like you. _Like_ like you. Really much.”  
   
Frank absorbed every single word, every shaky breath Gerard took while speaking, trying to burn it all into his brain so he would be able to come back to this very moment any time again. Shit. This _definitely_ was better than anything Frank had ever dreamed, and the best thing was that it could get even better. As Frank searched his suddenly very awake brain for suitable words, he shifted so he was facing Gerard, and they were so close that their noses almost touched. “Gerard, I-” Frank started. There was no way in hell he could say something equally cute and adorable, Gerard's confession was way too perfect for anyone to keep up with it. But Frank was going to try his best at least. “I, fuck, of course I like you back. There wasn't a single moment ever since I met you that I would have denied that, and god, I'm so happy you were brave enough to make the first step because it would have taken me a couple of weeks more. You're fucking perfect, and cute, and pretty, and hell yes, I like you back. Fuck, yes.” Okay, that might have been not really romantic, and short and hurried, and with a couple too many _fucks_ , but Frank was way too fucking blissful to think about it twice.   
   
Gerard chuckled, and Frank now realized Gerard's chuckle was his favorite noise in the whole world. Gerard moved his hand from his chest to Frank's cheek, stroking him. Frank melted into the tender touch, and he felt like his boner was really inappropriate because Gerard was just so fucking adorable. But he was in bed, or on a mattress on the floor, with _Gerard Way in his fucking underwear_ , and now, especially after Gerard had kinda confessed his love to Frank, there was no fucking way Frank's cock would soften without further ado. “So, about that making up-thing,” Gerard started, his body dangerously close to touching Frank's dick now. “How about we turn it into making _out_?”  
   
Frank grinned and shook his head, this guy had to be fucking kidding. “You're horrible at puns,” Frank said before the urge to kiss Gerard's pretty lips became too big, and he simply pressed his onto the other man's with a soft, longing moan.   
   
The second their lips collided changed everything. For a brief moment Frank acknowledged this in fact was his very first, proper kiss, and that he didn't know what he was doing, and he worried it might end in an awkward, wet mess. All worries and doubts, all uncertainties and, to be honest, just every thought in general, was pushed out of Frank's brain when he could feel Gerard reciprocating. Everything went rather fast then. The hand against Frank's cheek disappeared and was in Frank's hair instead, and used to push his head slightly firmer against Gerard's. There lips pressed together more intently, and Frank couldn't help but release another soft moan. _This was amazing._ Gerard seemed to notice Frank was rather inexperienced, so he took control over the kiss. Burying his fingers in Frank's dark hair he opened his lips slightly, waiting for Frank to mimic him, just to then brush his tongue against Frank's upper lip gently. Frank let his tongue touch Gerard's, almost automatically and shivering at the sensation, and before he knew what was happening, they kissed so passionately that Frank believed to have forgotten even his own name. Their tongues explored each others, danced almost, whilst their lips collided over and over. Frank realized he was holding his breath only when his head started to buzz, and he gasped into Gerard's mouth.   
   
He could feel Gerard smile and his fingers playing with Frank's hair, reassuring him everything was fine, he was doing amazing. Frank felt himself relax a little more, now taking short breaths through his nose as he noticed Gerard was doing, and let his hands finally explore Gerard's body. Now he placed his left hand on the crook of Gerard's neck, pulling him just a little closer, and he was just going to place the other one on Gerard's bared chest to feel his heartbeat when Gerard grabbed Frank gently and pulled him on top of himself. The blanket fell to the floor carelessly as Frank's breath grew even heavier, now not only because of the excitement, but because his boner was pressing against Gerard, and that was making him feel nervous as fuck. The nervousness was replaced by arousal rather quickly when Frank realized his dick wasn't the only hardened body part between the two of them, and that Gerard's member was just as hard as Frank's.   
   
“Holy fuck,” Frank breathed into Gerard's mouth before their kiss became more passionately and wilder. Gerard held Frank's body firmly and pressed him against his chest, Frank had placed his elbows one each side of Gerard's head, caressing his hair.  
   
Frank let out an involuntary moan as Gerard suddenly tugged at his lip piercing with his teeth, just lightly so it wouldn't cause any pain, and Frank could feel his cheeks blush when Gerard chuckled against his lips softly. “That sounded kinda hot,” he whispered, taking the opportunity of repeating his actions, and although Frank half expected it, moaned yet again.   
   
“ _You're_ hot,” Frank heard himself say, praying it didn't sound desperate but kind of sexual.   
   
“You think so?” Gerard murmured before holding Frank just a little closer and turning the both of them around in one swift move, so that Gerard was now on top of Frank, their lips not even losing contact for a moment.  
   
Gerard pushed his tongue into Frank's mouth yet again while Frank dug his nails into Gerard's back, not too hard, just to make him feel how much he enjoyed kissing him like this.   
   
It wasn't long from there until Gerard lifted and removed his lips from Frank's, eliciting a protesting moan from the younger man that quickly became a rather aroused one when Gerard pressed his lips against Frank's jar, planting tiny, innocent kisses along his jawline before moving on to his neck.   
   
Frank threw his head back to give Gerard easier access, purely enjoying the other man's hot lips against his sensitive skin. Gerard took his time caressing Frank's neck, sometimes even let his tongue slide across small parts of it or sucked on Frank's pulse and later on Frank's collarbone, careful to not suck hard enough to leave any hickeys although Frank was far beyond caring.   
   
“Gerard, please-” Frank breathed, unsure what to ask for. There was this unutterable desire coming from his by now throbbing dick, and Frank _needed_ Gerard to take care of that.   
   
“Shh, Frankie,” Gerard exhaled, his lustful voice sending goosebumps all over Frank's body. Fuck, this guy. “I got you. Just... relax.”   
   
Frank moaned in response and Gerard continued kissing his neck and upper body. When he reached his nipples and pulled on his left one with his teeth, just playfully, Frank had to bite his fist to not fucking yell in pleasure. “Fuck, Gerard, oh my god.”   
   
Gerard just chuckled and repeated the action on Frank's other nipple before moving on to his stomach. He had almost reached Frank's throbbing dick, not even touched it once, and Frank felt like he could cum in his pants right here and now, and he silently _begged_ Gerard would hurry a little, as amazing and arousing him caressing Frank's whole body was – it turned Frank on so much that he grew scared he would cum as soon as Gerard just _touched_ his cock.  
 


	10. Smut smut smut

Frank whimpered when Gerard's lips moved from his belly button on to his happy trail, and then, luckily just mere seconds later, he could feel the other man's mouth hovering over his still covered dick, and it – if that was physically possible – got even harder.  
   
“Are you okay, Frankie?” Gerard whispered, his lips brushing Frank's cock whilst speaking. It was hard to understand over Frank's heavy breaths, and it took the younger man several seconds to answer.  
   
“Yes. Fuck, yes Gerard, I'm fine,” he breathed, moving his hands above his head to clutch the pillow when Gerard slowly removed Frank's underwear. The sudden cold air made Frank gasp loudly, and he bit his lip when he could feel Gerard's tender hand touching his cock.   
   
“Fucking gorgeous, Frankie,” Gerard said, and disabled the younger man to utter any kind of thanks he might have wanted to emit by kissing Frank's shaft, because Frank's head seemed to be completely empty all of the sudden, completely empty except for the unbelievably huge desire for more, more from Gerard.  
   
“H-holy fucking sh-” A probably way too loud moan escaped Frank's mouth before he could do anything against it as Gerard set is dick upright and lowered his mouth onto it. The sensation was too much, the sudden heat and tightness around his throbbing member; Frank whimpered, his head spinning and his hands clutching the pillow so forcefully that his knuckles were probably white.  
   
Gerard moaned in pleasure before starting to bob up and down, and then Frank gave up on holding back because this was the best fucking shit he'd ever felt, and honestly, he didn't give a fuck if anyone heard them, not even if it was Bert, who – of course – occupied the room next door, this was fucking worth it. He didn't have any spare blood to provide his brain with enough to worry about it anyway.  
   
Frank was embarrassingly close already, this was his very first blowjob, and he felt unable to receive any more pleasure, yet there was Gerard still going down on him. It felt so good, so incredibly good.  
   
“Gerard- shit, I'm- I'm close-” Frank gasped when he felt Gerard's tongue pushing against his slit and then on the underside of his dick, licking and playing with it, and he was getting ready to fucking cum, heavier than he'd ever cum before. The sensation built up in his stomach, warm and fast and beautiful, and his whole body started to twitch.  
   
And then Gerard's mouth was gone, leaving Frank desperate and on the fucking edge. “Gerard...” Frank whimpered, wanting nothing more than his mouth back on his dick.  
   
“I know, baby,” Gerard smiled and leant over Frank's body again to press his lips against Frank's. “You taste so fucking good,” he murmured.  
   
“Please- Gerard, please, I'm so fucking close,” Frank heard himself breathe, fingers still fucking clutching the pillow, and he doubted he would be able to unglue them from the soft fabric any time soon.  
   
“There's so much more I want to do with you, Frankie,” Gerard whispered into their kiss, and that's when Frank actually did almost fucking cum on his own stomach, because fuck, this was Gerard fucking Way on top of him, basically telling him they were about to have _actual_ sex.  
   
“Fucking hurry,” Frank pushed whilst bucking his hips, hoping to get any kind of friction. “I- god, I need you so bad.”  
   
Gerard hummed in agreement.  
“Have you ever done this before?” he asked, kissing Frank's jaw again to let him speak.  
   
“N-no,” Frank admitted, feeling awkward. “That was my first blowjob too... And first kiss.” He felt his cheeks blush again, and his pulse quickening even more, but Gerard simply pressed his lips back on Frank's to calm him.  
   
“That's fine,” he said. “You're doing amazing. Wanna feel how fucking hard you got me, Frankie?”  
   
Frank nodded and finally was able to detach one hand from the pillow to touch Gerard's body. He got hold of the other man's ass and couldn't resist squeezing it gently before moving onto his cock. It was his very first time to touch a cock. Despite his own, that is. Frank took a deep breath before palming Gerard through his underwear – and fuck yes, he was just as aroused as Frank was himself.  
   
“Shit,” Frank breathed and Gerard pressed their lips together once again, wet and playful, with their tongues almost intertwined.  
   
Frank took his courage in both hands, nerving himself to actually touch Gerard's member, before letting his right hand slip into the other man's underwear.  
   
It almost felt natural to wrap his fingers around Gerard's shaft and start jerking him off slowly, and Frank earned a sharp gasp from Gerard.  
   
“Let me- let me suck you,” Frank pleaded into the kiss. “I wanna taste you.”  
   
“Okay,” Gerard said, pulling away to lay down next to Frank on his back. Frank hurried to his knees, eager to return the pleasure Gerard had made him feel. He pulled down the other man's underwear, just far enough to free his dick, and took him into his mouth. He didn't know how to suck a cock – how would he – but he'd watched enough for porn to have a vague idea how to do it right.  
   
Gerard moaned, his back arching when Frank first bobbed his head, taking in as much of Gerard's length as he could. He started of easy, slowly moving his head up and down, and a little deeper every time. Then he copied what Gerard's tongue had done to him before, and Gerard was fucking gasping. Frank would have grinned, but his mouth was kind of busy with something else, so he just hummed in satisfaction.  
  
 “You sure this is your first time, Frankie? You- oh fuck,” Gerard muttered, and Frank felt utterly proud at his words.  
  
He pulled back for a second and said “Shit, please keep talking, Gerard.” before lowering his head again, so eager he almost managed to deepthroat him.  
   
Gerard moaned loudly. “You want me to keep talking? You like it when I tell you how good it feels and what an excellent cocksucker you are?” He hissed when Frank flickered his tongue over his head. “Fucking hell, your mouth is so damn warm, feels so fucking good, so _tight_.”  
   
And now Frank managed to take in his complete length, forcing himself to keep his head down with his nose in Gerard's pubes, breathing in his beautifully masculine scent. He felt Gerard's hand pressing against the back of his head, firmly holding him against his crotch, and Gerard moaned in pleasure. “Fuck, Frankie, fuck, you're so good, so fucking good for me, oh god-”  
   
Frank choked and Gerard let go of him immediately. “Gerard,” Frank breathed, his voice even more broken and raucous than before, and sort of desperate. “Gerard, please, fuck me-”  
   
Without another word, Gerard pushed Frank onto the mattress on his back, pushing off his own boxers whilst positioning himself over the other man's body. He spread Frank's legs and knelt between them, and Frank held his breath when he felt one of Gerard's fingers against his entrance, wetted with spit. He rubbed around it in small circles before pushing inside, tenderly and slowly, making Frank fucking grunt in pleasure.  
   
“Does this feel alright?” Gerard asked, moving his finger in and out. “Does it hurt?”  
  
  “It's fine, I've- I've done that to myself before-”    
  
“You're so damn hot,” Gerard whispered before Frank could even start to feel awkward for admitting that, and added a second finger.  
   
Frank spread his legs wider to give Gerard easier access and moaned, his head lying heavily on the pillow between his hands which had resumed to their previous position. It felt so good to get fingered by Gerard, and Frank embraced how careful and sweet - yet determined - he was doing it, and it turned Frank on so fucking much, fucking hell.  
   
Gerard picked up a faster pace and Frank, ignoring the burn he already was familiar with, felt himself falling in a kind of ecstasy, and everything felt so damn good, and all he could think about was Gerard, and all he could anticipate was Gerard's dick finally deep in his ass, pounding into him, finally taking his fucking virginity, and finally making him fucking cum.  
   
A short yell escaped Frank's throat when Gerard's finger hit his prostate, and he jumped and writhed on Gerard's hands. “Holy shit, right there,” he gasped, basically pressing himself against Gerard, silently begging him to repeat the motion.  
   
“We need to be quiet, honey,” Gerard murmured amusedly before complying and letting his fingers brush against Frank's sweet spot again multiple times, reducing Frank to nothing but a whimpering, horny mess on his mattress, and Frank was on the fucking edge already.  
   
“I'm ready-” Frank breathed, spreading his legs even further. “I'm ready Gerard, fuck me already, I want you so bad, god, I need you so much-”  
   
Gerard's finger was removed from Frank's ass and he leant over Frank, supporting his weight with his left arm whilst lubing up his stone-hard cock and pressing it against Frank's barely stretched hole. “I don't have any protection or lube, but- I swear I'm clean, and I'll be very gentle, so-”    
  
“Just fuck me.”  
   
And with that, the pressure against his entrance became bigger until the tip was buried in Frank's body, and Frank closed his eyes and breathed heavily as he tried to get used to the intense feeling. Fingering himself was different, so very different from feeling an actual, fucking _thick_ cock down there, and there were tears in his eyes before Frank could stop them. It hurt, and it burned, but the stretch got less and less bad with every second until it was an almost pleasant feeling.  
   
“Are you okay?” Gerard asked, waiting for Frank to get used to the sensation.  
   
“Yeah,” Frank answered and blinked the tears away. “Can you move...?”    
  
Gerard hummed and slowly pushed his hips against Frank's body, his dick making its way deeper into Frank's ass, and Frank whimpered in pain and arousal. “Fuck-”    
  
“I can stop if it hurts too much,” Gerard offered, but Frank shook his head quickly.   
  
  “God, no. Don't you fucking dare stop now,” Frank threatened and Gerard chuckled.  
   
“So damn eager to get fucked,” he cooed before lowering his body onto Frank's and pressing their lips together again with his dick still in Frank's ass, but not moving. Frank's cock was jammed between their torsos, leaking and, despite the pain in his ass, still fucking hard.  
   
“Yeah,” Frank chanted under his breath, aware he sounded desperate and pathetic as fuck, but god, he just wanted Gerard to keep going. “Yes, please- fuck me. I'm ready, I'm fucking ready, please-”  
   
With one swift move, Gerard had pulled back and slammed back into him, Frank's eyes rolled back into his skull and his mouth hung open as all he could do was emit another needy moan. The pain ebbed away quickly and all that was left was pure pleasure, and it felt so good, and Frank just wanted Gerard to do it over and over again, and he never wanted it to end.  
   
“Fuck yes,” he breathed, and Gerard repeated the motion, even faster this time, and Frank was in heaven.  
   
A steady pace settled in, fast but not too harsh for the first time, Frank's hands clutched tightly on Gerard's back as he changed his angle every few thrusts, aiming for Frank's prostate. He knew he'd found it when another fucking scream escaped Frank's mouth and his tight hole clenched around Gerard's dick even more.  
   
“C-can you talk to me again-?” Frank asked, his words leaving his mouth without being thought about. He didn't know why he wanted it, he just remembered really liking it when Gerard dirtytalked before, and now, as he was almost on the edge again, he felt like he needed it.  
   
Gerard chuckled, breathier than usual. “You like that, huh?” he uttered whilst continuing to penetrate Frank's virgin hole, purposefully missing his prostate by millimeters. “You enjoy hearing how dirty this is?”    
  
“Yes,” Frank panted, and Gerard increased the velocity of his thrusts, implying Frank's nails digging into his back even deeper.  
   
“You're kind of a slut, Frankie,” Gerard whispered. “I love it. Who would've thought you would turn out to be such a little whore for me. Begged for my cock in your mouth, begged for my cock in your ass, in your fucking tight ass, Frankie, you know how fucking tight you are?”  
   
Frank shuddered and just moaned, he _loved_ hearing Gerard talk to him like this.  
   
“And now you're fucking falling apart with my dick in your ass,” Gerard continued, subconsciously getting faster. “And I'm not even hitting your prostate. What would you do if I hit it again, hm? Would you scream again, Frankie?”  
   
“Ye-” Gerard changed the angle just a little and full-on slammed against Frank's sweet spot, and Frank did scream. Gerard pressed his lips against Frank's to shut him up, and he stayed like this whilst continuing to hit his prostate repeatedly, hard and without any mercy, even when Frank started to whimper and pant and sweat like a motherfucker.  
   
“Gerard- I'm gonna fucking cum, god-” he gasped hoarsely against Gerard's mouth.  
   
“You're gonna cum from my dick up your arse?” Gerard exhaled, thrusting into Frank. “Even though I'm not even touching your cock? That how much you enjoy getting fucked?”  
   
“Yes, fuck, yes, Gerard,” Frank moaned. “Shit, I'm gonna cum so hard, oh my god-”    
  
“Cum for me Frankie,” Gerard exhaled whilst pressing against his prostate one last time, and that was all Frank needed to lose it. His orgasm hit him even heavier than he had thought, pure pleasure flowing through his veins as the thick white fluid shot out of his dick, landing all over his and Gerard's stomachs.  
   
Frank's body twitched, his head spinning even when the orgasm was over, and he only vaguely noticed Gerard thrusting into him once more before collapsing on top of him as well, panting Frank's name as the orgasm took over and he came deep in Frank's ass.  
   
“Fuck-” Gerard uttered, his body shaking from the aftershocks. “Frank, I- oh my god.”  
   
“Fuck,” Frank agreed, still breathing heavily. “That was- _amazing_.”  
   
Gerard chuckled and pulled out, falling heavily on the mattress next to Frank. “It was fucking perfect. You are fucking perfect. Shit, that was, like, the best sex ever.”  
   
Frank grinned, turning on his side to face Gerard. “Thank you. You know, for- this. I couldn't have imagined a better first time.”  
   
Gerard lent forward to kiss Frank, short and sweet. “You are welcome, Frankie. It was my pleasure, trust me.”  
   
Frank smiled into the kiss, genuinely happy and satisfied. “What do you say, let's sleep some more hours before we need to get up?”    
  
“God yes, I'm exhausted,” Gerard said. “But let's clean us up first and then sleep in your bed instead.”


	11. The change

The morning came way too early. Their alarm set off at fucking 8AM as usual, and Frank even had to get up and walk around his bed to the nightstand where he'd put the alarm before because Gerard was on that side of the bed, and it – despite the loud noise – didn't seem like he would move any time soon. Frank noticed his ass hurt pretty bad, but the pain was welcomed because it meant it had finally happened, and it hadn't been just some weird dream. Gerard had fucked him. And, lord, _so_ good.  
   
When Frank had finally pressed the button to stop the annoying alarm, his eyes fell on Gerard on the messy bed, and Frank felt the strong urge to just lay back next to him. He looked fucking adorable, with his hair all chaotic as usual after sleeping, his face peaceful and just ridiculously perfect, his left arm still stretched out where Frank's head had been lying. Frank's heart started beating faster, and he smiled as he lowered his head onto Gerard's face and pressed a short kiss to his lips.  
   
“Morning, Gerard,” he whispered, earning a groan from the other man that either could have been _”Frankie”_ or _”Fuck you”_ , Frank decided to go with the first option.  
   
“We need to get up,” Frank continued, ignoring Gerard's protesting grunt. “Come on, stop being a sleeping beauty.”  
   
“C'me here,” Gerard muttered, weakly stretching an arm out towards Frank, and how could Frank say no to that. He giggled and hopped onto the bed again, on top of Gerard in fact, hugging him tightly with his face buried in the other man's hair.  
   
“You smell so good, Gerard,” Frank mumbled whilst taking a deep breath, a mix of Gerard's odor, his body smell and a pleasant waft of cigarette smell filled his lungs.  
   
“Nghh,” Gerard answered and wrapped his arms around Frank's body, pulling him closer. “'s night was beautiful, Frank.”  
   
“It was,” Frank agreed, pressing a kiss to Gerard's temple. “Fucking perfect.” And then he got an amazing idea as to how Gerard would wake up way faster. He started to withdraw, ignoring Gerard's protests yet again, then freed the older man's body of the blanket and palmed him through the fresh pair of boxers he'd put on after the two of them had cleaned themselves this night.  
   
“Frankie,” Gerard said, smiling with closed eyes. “What-”  
  
  “Shhh.” Frank emphasized his words by pulling down Gerard's underwear, causing him to gasp and bite his bottom lip. “Just enjoy it, baby.”  
   
The cock in Frank's hand twitched at these words, and Frank could feel him growing hard. He licked it playfully, just wanting to see the effect he had on the older one, and as he'd expected it his dick became visibly erect within only a few minutes as Frank continued teasing it with his tongue and hands. Gerard moaned softly, the adorable smile still on his face, and Frank's heart fucking jolted when he saw his facial expression change from amused and tired to _”Oh fuck that feels good”_ when Frank took him into his mouth, accompanied by a wanton moan. Gerard's eyes shot open briefly just to be shut again tightly, brows knit and mouth open at the intense feeling.  
   
Frank allowed himself to stare at Gerard's sex face one more second – he was so hot, honestly, Frank wished the light last night would have been better so he could have watched Gerard's face while he got fucked by him – then started to bob his head.  
   
“Fuck, Frankie,” Gerard gasped, and now it was _him_ clutching the sheets. Seeing that encouraged Frank even further and he increased his velocity, wanting to make the other man cum as fast as possible because they had to be downstairs in only a couple of minutes.  
   
He now felt Gerard's hand against the back of his head again, and he signalized him by slowing down his motions and leaning into the touch that Gerard could take control. He didn't need to tell him twice, only seconds later Frank could feel both Gerard's hands on his head, pushing him onto his dick with small but quick motions, not wanting to push it too deeply into Frank's throat to prevent him from choking.  
   
“I'm gonna cum-” Gerard panted, accompanying his movements with thrusting his hips up against Frank. “C-can I cum in your mouth?”    
  
Frank hummed and nodded as best as he could, totally in for that. He'd always wondered what cum tasted like, always wanted to swallow cum after giving a blowjob, and now that time had finally come.  
   
“Shit you're so hot-” Gerard breathed before his hips started to stutter and the grip on Frank's head intensified a little more, then Frank could feel the cock in his mouth twitch and soon enough a hot, salty liquid splashing against his palate, different to everything he'd ever tasted before but still he liked it. In fact he thought it was just fucking arousing to taste Gerard's juices, and he moaned wantonly as the other man still fucking came in his mouth, writhing.  
   
“Fucking hell, Frank. Wake me like this every morning and it will become my favorite time of the day,” Gerard said, still breathing heavily as the aftershocks wore off. “That was amazing, oh my god. Lay down on your back, I will suck you so good-”    
  
“We need to go downstairs,” Frank pitied, his hard-on aching in his boxers, “Or they will wonder what we're up to.”  
   
“Come on, I'll be very quick,” Gerard offered, almost pleading with his eyes. “You'll be done in, like, 2 minutes.”    
  
“How about we go downstairs now, eat very quickly, and then we take care of my boner afterwards?” Frank suggested, smiling at Gerard's perfect face. “I'm so hard, it won't go away during breakfast, so you can continue just where we left it.”  
  
    
Gerard made a pouting expression, but agreed. “Fine. But only if you really can keep up the boner, and are able to hide it so nobody sees. I'll make you cum so fucking good, honey, I promise.”  
  


  **  

  
Frank's boner disappeared rather quickly when Bert told him their boss wanted to talk to him in his office as soon as they had reached the kitchen area, which was really unusual this early in the morning, and the fact that he wanted to talk to him _alone_ , and that Gerard was specifically ordered not to join Frank made the whole thing really tense and gave the 22-year-old a bad feeling.  
   
Now he found himself standing in front of his boss' desk in the widest sweat pants he had been able to find to hide his hard cock. It seemed unnecessary and a little stupid now, and all it did to Frank was making him feel really underdressed with his boss in a suit in front of him, sitting at his desk with a mug of coffee placed in front of him.  
   
He looked displeased, and Frank knew his expectations Bert would tell him shit had come true.  
   
“Iero,” the boss started, piercing Frank with his cold eyes. “I've been told things between you and that Gerard guy aren't working out too well.”  
   
Frank shook his head. “That's not true sir. Gerard and I get along really well, and we've been able to make process.”  
   
“Oh?” He raised a brow sceptically. “I don't think so. An informant told me he's a bad influence on you. Yesterday, for example – if I'm correct I told Bert _he_ was supposed to do the talking, yet I heard it was somebody else who convinced the customer to accept our product. Tell me, Iero, who was that guy who spoke to him without my permission?”  
   
“Me, sir.” Frank swallowed and returned to the submissive gesture he always occupied when talking to his boss, and kept his eyes on the floor.

 “It was you, I see. And you knew you were supposed to stay silent?”  
   
“Yes, sir.”  
   
“Yet you decided to disobey.”

  “Yes, sir.”  
   
“And would you be generous enough to tell me _why_ you ignored my orders?” His voice sounded calm, friendly almost, and it made Frank shiver in fear. He usually didn't fear his boss, just respected him, but he sounded so _dangerous_ , and it seemed like _”the informant”_ had told him some serious shit to make him this angry.  
   
“I'm sorry,” Frank started because it was always good to show regret first. “It seemed the deal wasn't going pretty well because the customer called Bert untrustworthy. I just wanted to save it, and my plan worked, sir, I ended up talking to Ra- to the customer, and I think he likes me, and the chance is high he's going to choose us as his business partners.”  
   
“And you decided to consume the product we were trying to make him choose because...? Can't you fucking control your addiction?”  

Frank flinched at the curse word, it was the first sign of his friendly mask falling. “Because he alleged the coke might be poisoned. I'm not addicted, sir, that's not why I-”  

“Pathetic,” the boss interrupted him. “Iero, I think we're having a problem here.”

  “No, boss- I... I promise, it's very likely that we will be the chosen ones-”  

“And the problem is Gerard,” he continued, ignoring Frank's with horror filled eyes which he finally had dared to lift from the ground.  
   
“No, Gerard-”  
   
“I think he's a bad influence on you as I already said, and we've got to do-”  

“Gerard's not a problem, boss!” Frank almost shouted, probably sounding very desperate. He knew where this was gonna go, the boss distrusted Gerard, and that meant Gerard had to be killed, that meant _Frank_ had to kill Gerard.  
   
“Don't you fucking interrupt me, for fuck's sake!” He'd jumped to his feet angrily, his raging expression making Frank shrink. “I'm telling you facts here, nothing you're allowed to question or discuss! I've told you to come here to tell you what it's gonna be, not to ask for your opinion, Iero, fucking shut up!”

  “I- sorry-”  
   
“Gerard is a problem, and I think he's dragging you into it. You've been very trustworthy once, Iero, and at that time you wouldn't have _dared_ talking to me like you just did. It's all him. I've been against it all the time, I shouldn't have allowed it in the first place. I think he doesn't belong to us yet, he's not loyal to us.”

  “Please,” Frank gasped, his eyes suddenly wet. Fuck, he cared about Gerard, especially after last night, and there was no way he could kill him, never, oh god. “Please- let him live, don't make me kill him, please sir, he doesn't deserve that-”  
   
“Make you kill him?” The boss smirked and sat back down, satisfaction filling his eyes when he saw the desperation in Frank's. “That would be fun. But no, Iero, that's not what I've planned for him. I don't want him to be just a waste of time- You've spent the last month training him. No, there's something else I have in mind for him.”


	12. Bert and other problems

Frank didn't know what to do. This was so fucked, just so fucked, and he pondered whether he should actually go back to tell Gerard or just escape the building right now and fucking run for it, because there was no way that Gerard would cope what their boss expected him to do. And Frank didn't want Gerard to cope – he knew it would change the man forever.  
   
Yet Frank chose to not run away because that decision would most definitely end with Frank being chased, caught and killed, and Gerard being killed right away because without Frank, they didn't need him here, and there was no chance they would accept him.  
   
It was so unfair. Gerard was such a good soul, so friendly, sweet and funny, yet nobody seemed to like him here. Well, except for Bert who wanted to fuck him, and maybe Gerard had been able to convince some of the men downstairs yesterday morning that he was an okay guy by reacting to Bert's assault the way he did, but Frank considered they might think he wasn't joking or just playing a role and mistake Gerard for actually being slutty as fuck. Frank doubted that would lead to respecting and accepting Gerard – but Gerard was right after all, if he'd behaved dismissively or rudely, they'd probably hated him right away. These guys were assholes.  
   
Frank also doubted Bert liked Gerard that much after what happened yesterday, but he hoped Bert would hate _him_ , Frank, instead of Gerard, because Gerard didn't do anything wrong, and Gerard didn't deserve to be hated.  
   
Gerard didn't deserve any of this.  
   
And maybe this was just the thing, he was _too_ good, too adorable for this shit, maybe that was the reason for his boss hating him. Maybe Gerard was an angel and therefore too perfect, and nobody could trust his eyes, and that's why their boss disliked him so much.  
   
Frank ended up smoking three or four cigarettes outside the house, hoping for a brainwave that would stop Gerard from the misery that he was about to endure. After the last cigarette was stubbed out, Frank sighed and went back inside, not quite wanting to accept it yet, but what could he do?  
   
Breakfast was over by now, probably, and Frank was sure he couldn't get one mouthful down, so he went straight up to his room instead of the kitchen. He'd wanted to plan what to tell Gerard, how to prepare him for what was coming, but there he was, standing in front of their door, clueless.  
   
Frank took one deep breath before opening the door and stepping inside, aware he was about to ruin not only Gerard's morning or day, but probably his whole life. He prayed Gerard had forgotten about wanting to blow Frank because it would be even harder for the both of them if Gerard was _horny_ right now, it would break Frank's heart to have to tell him when everything Gerard wanted was Frank's dick in his mouth.  
   
“Gerard-”  
   
“Frank!”  
   
The older man wasn't horny anymore, Frank could tell for sure. What he saw was a really upset looking Gerard, pouting on their bed, tears rolling down his cheeks, but oddly excited and relieved at Frank's sight.  
   
So Frank was about to tell an already unhappy Gerard the somber message and make him even unhappier. Amazing.  
   
“Gerard, sweetheart, what's wrong?” Frank asked concernedly, hurrying to the other man's side to wrap his arms around his body and comfort him. “Why are you crying?”  
   
“I'm sorry,” Gerard whined. “I promised to give you a blowjob after breakfast-”  “It's fine,” Frank interrupted, using his thumb to wipe off another swell of tears escaping Gerard's pretty eyes. “Don't even worry about that. Just tell me what happened, honey.”  Gerard looked reluctant, as if he was unsure whether Frank should know or not, then he nodded and leant into Frank a little more to get support. “It's- it's Bert.” Frank's brows knit in anger. This motherfucker. “He... during breakfast he told me he wanted to talk to me about something important, so I agreed to go upstairs with him, and we went into this room. He asked me if I knew where his room was, and because I didn't know I shook my head. He told me his room was right next to ours-”  
   
Frank swallowed, already fathoming where this was going to go, and all he wanted to do was to punch Bert in the face. But he could resist, barely, and started to stroke Gerard's cheek instead.  
   
“-he asked me how last night was and how many orgasms we had because it sounded like at least 3 each, apparently, and Bert- he said he heard everything, and he said it got him so hard, and he jerked off in the same rhythm we fucked, and it was _so fucking hot_ , and he- Frank, no!”  
   
Frank had gotten up and was already in the center of the room. Fuck was he angry, this filthy little scumbag, how fucking _dare_ he. Frank breathed heavily, clenching his fists.  
   
“Frank, don't, please. Don't-”  “He's fucking _sick_!” Yet Frank wasn't able to resist Gerard's pleads and sat back next to him on the bed. “What else, what else did he say?”  
   
“He... do you really want to know? It's gonna upset you even more...”  “Gerard, of course I want to know. You're fucking crying. Please, tell me.” Frank forced himself to speak a little calmer.  
   
“O-okay, then. He said he always knew you were gay too, he's always suspected it, and he said he imagined to fuck you as well someday this night. And he said after what he heard he wants me even more, and he promised me he would fuck me one day, no matter if I want it or not-” Gerard began to sob again and hit his face behind his hands.  
   
“You don't need to worry, honey, he isn't going to _rape_ you. He might be sick, but he's not _that sick_ , and even if he'd ever dare to, you're way taller than him, he wouldn't even be able to.”  
   
“I know, that's not why I'm crying, Frankie,” Gerard admitted. Frank hated to see him like this, hated every single second of having to watch him like this. “I said he wouldn't be able to fuck me against my will, I would punch him in the face, and you would, too-”  
   
“That's right, sweetheart. Look, don't take the shit he says too seriously. He's just upset, probably... Being the only gay person can be hard, I guess. I mean, he thought he was the only gay one for all those years, and now you came along, and he likes you, and then he finds out there was another gay person all along and you choose that guy over him. He's just mad and insecure about himself, really, don't put too much meaning into his words.”  
   
“Bert said you wouldn't be able to protect me any longer because the boss was going to fucking shoot you in his office,” Gerard whimpered. “And I was so scared he was right. So, when Bert had left, I decided to look for you, because you once saved my life, and I wanted to be able to do the same.”  
   
Oh no.  
   
“So I knocked on the boss's office, and I was so scared when I saw he was alone, because I thought that would mean he'd already gotten rid of your body, but he smirked at me and asked if I'd come to complain about his decisions, and that it was my own fault, and I shouldn't be such a pansy about it.”  
   
_Oh no_.  
   
“I didn't know what he was talking about, so I asked, and he was confused first, obviously expected me to know already, but I didn't. So he told me he wanted me to- to...”  
   
“Gerard, fuck- I... I wish I could do anything, I wish I could do it myself. But he's-”  
   
“Frank, I can't do that. I can't. I- I can't kill my own _brother_!”


	13. The beginning of the end

Life is horrible and unpredictable, and everything can change within only a few hours. Whether you just want to fulfill your nerdy needs of reading a couple of comics but find yourself held at gunpoint and basically kidnapped by criminals robbing the shop, or you meet a person you really like, and all you want to do is be happy and spend time with that special one, but instead you're told to not only murder a stranger, but your fucking brother – apparently, everything is possible.  
   
Frank wanted to blame his boss, but the thing was, he _couldn't_ , well, not completely anyway. In fact, Frank hadn't been aware of the extent of what he'd been told until Gerard said it.  
   
Here's the thing. Another murder for hire, a job that reached him not too often, just every now and then, and it wouldn't be a big deal for Frank or any other gang member. Frank hated doing it, but his soul was damned anyway, so he didn't care – he even begged and pleaded their boss that he could do it instead of Gerard, but no, the boss wanted Gerard to kill the guy to prove his loyalty towards him and the gang, to show he was ready for it. He wasn't a monster, he hadn't known Mikey Way was Gerard's brother. He hadn't even known Gerard' last name, well, technically he did since he had taken Gerard's ID, but he just hadn't paid attention, so there actually was no way he could have possibly known.  
   
Mikey Way the politician. Frank remembered Gerard telling him in the second or third week he'd been here. Influential and rich and, apparently, hated by another rich person. A person that hated him so much he wanted him dead. Murdered. For a whole shitload of money, which obviously was even more than their boss could get with the deal with Ray, because that's why he didn't do the deal himself. He had a meeting with the guy yesterday and, after being offered enough money, agreed. The boss had been given documents related to Mikey so they knew his name, where to find him, when to kill him.  
   
When Gerard had been told he had to kill somebody, his brain stopped working for a few minutes. He'd stared at his boss' face, just stared, without being able to hear his words. Then he'd been shown the documents, and fucking almost lost conscious when he read the name of his apparent victim. Mikey Way.  
   
“What the fuck, boy?” the boss had asked, confused and angered.  
   
“Brother-” Gerard had gasped, barely able to control his body and therefore also not the words leaving his mouth. “My brother...”  
   
“Mikey Way is your brother?” And for a short moment he'd actually looked like withdrawing the order, because again, he wasn't a fucking monster. But then he decided against it. “Well then. That will definitely show your loyalty. I'm going to trust you after you've killed him.”  
   
Except he wasn't going to kill him. Never, for nothing in the whole world, would Gerard _kill_ his baby brother Mikey, and he'd rather die himself than do so.  
   
Frank knew that as well. And that implied he would lose Gerard because they were going to kill him if he didn't follow his boss' order. And then some other gang member would kill Mikey because the world is cruel like that.  
   
He had passed a resolution pretty quickly – they needed to get out of here. The both of them. Warn Mikey, make him hide, make sure he's protected, then get their boss, Bert, and all the other sons of bitches imprisoned. Except Bob, maybe, Bob was okay.  
   
Frank knew it was nearly impossible, especially after Gerard had been told to kill his brother and was basically expected to try to escape. Now there always was somebody accompanying them, and they locked their fucking door at night and, maybe, but Frank didn't know for sure, even positioned someone as a guard in front of their door. The days passed by like this, giving them less and less time to think of something.  
   
What they needed was a plan, and a damn good one. But Gerard grew more scared with every hour that passed, and Frank wanted nothing more than make him happy again.  
   
He'd always wanted to escape. He'd always hated it here. But except for that, there had never been an actual reason to do so, and Frank had been way too scared to even try. Now there was a reason, and Gerard's well-being was Frank's motivation, and he would do anything to save him and his brother from that fate.  
 

**

   
“Frank. Hey, Frank.”  
   
Again somebody woke him up in the dead of night, and this time it was not Gerard. Frank stirred and awakened quick when he realized it was Bob standing in front of him, the light on his nightstand had been switched on so the room was illuminated.  
   
“What's up?” Frank asked, alarmed. This couldn't mean anything good. His heart started to race as he glanced at Gerard next to him who still slept peacefully, although maybe not as peacefully as he used to. For a second Frank had feared they might have taken Gerard while Frank was asleep, and he was relieved when he saw him lying next to him. Frank noticed Bob didn't comment on the two men sleeping in one bed, Bert had spread the message that Frank was actually gay and they had actually fucked and now were an actual couple or something like that.  
   
“Boss wants me to get Gerard. He says tonight is the night. I don't understand, but he said Gerard will know what he means-”  Frank gasped in horror.  
  
“Fucking hell Bob,” he muttered.  
   
“What the hell is gonna happen, Frank?” Bob asked hastily. “Why do I have to drive Gerard two fucking hours away from here to some city in the fucking middle of the night?”  
   
“I- it's complicated, boss will tell you, I guess.”    
  
“This is fucked up. I've got a weird feeling, Frank.” And he did look generally concerned.  
 “Me too,” Frank admitted. Then he held his breath, turned around and prepared himself for tearing Gerard away from hopefully peaceful dreams into the brutal reality. “Gerard, baby,” he whispered. “You need to wake up.”  
   
His eyes shot open at an instant which would have been very unlikely for Gerard under normal conditions, but ever since he got that order, his body was tense all the time. “Now?” Gerard whined, and Frank saw tears in his eyes. “Is it happening now?”  
   
Frank nodded and the first sob of the day escaped Gerard's pretty mouth, Frank put a calming hand on his chest. He then turned around to Bob. “Can I come with you? He needs me.”  
   
Bob shrugged and nodded. “I guess. He didn't forbid me to bring you, so it should be fine.”  
   
“Thanks. Would you give us a minute?”    
  
“Sure. I'll be waiting outside the door, but hurry, he'll be pissed off if we make him wait.” Frank felt a wave of affection as he watched Bob leave the room. Obviously what was about to happen wasn't his fault, and Frank appreciated his patience and sympathy very much.  
   
“Frankie-” Gerard sobbed and buried his head in the crook of Frank's neck. “I can't- please, I can't...”  
   
“I know, baby. It won't happen, I won't let it happen. You're safe. I'll think of something, I promise.” Frank's mind started to race immediately and he prayed this would not be an empty promise. There _had_ to be a way. “But now you need to get up. I'll come with you, I'll protect you.”  
   
Gerard nodded numbly and got up really slowly. They got dressed in silence and Frank shoved his gun in his back pocket. Just in case. Tonight, he thought, he might actually want to use it against somebody.  
   
Bob waited outside just as he had announced, and together they went downstairs and into a car. According to the display in the car, it was 2:23AM. Bob had said they were about to drive two hours, implying Frank had two more hours to come up with a master plan. 


	14. Making sacrifices

„So, how's this going to work?“ Frank asked. They'd been driving about half an hour already, mostly in silence apart from Gerard's constant sobs. The couple had chosen to sit next to each other on the backseat, Gerard practically on Frank's lap as he continued to cry against his chest, tightly held by Frank. Frank had been pondering what to do the whole time, and now he'd decided he didn't have enough information to come to a conclusion.  
   
“All I know is boss wanted me to wake Gerard up, drive him to a destination he told me but you're not supposed to know just yet and then meet him there. He said he's got a job for Gerard and it needed to happen tonight. I would really like to know what this all is about, you know, and it would be unbelievably friendly of you to bring me into the loop, but no worries man-”  
   
Frank's head was too busy to take notice of Bob's sarcastic tone as he caressed Gerard's hair thoughtfully. “Hm...”  
   
“Frankie, please...” Gerard whispered against Frank's chest, pressing against him a little more. “Please.”  
   
There was this gun in Frank's pocket, and suddenly there was this idea in Frank's head. “Fuck,” he muttered, remorse filling his body immediately but he had made his decision at the same time.  
   
He'd promised he would do anything to prevent this from happening. Anything included killing Bob.  
   
Frank started to sweat – this was so fucked. He liked Bob, he might be an asshole sometimes, and grumpy as fuck, but he liked him. And he knew him. The only reason Frank had been able to kill people before was because he hadn't known them, because he simply blocked out and ignored they were actual people. Things were different with Bob, he'd known him for several years, smoked with him, drank with him, snorted with him, laughed with him. And Bob was _innocent_. He didn't even know what Gerard was supposed to do. Yet Bob needed to die if Frank wanted Gerard to live and be happy, and hell, he did want that.  
   
“Where are we meeting him?” Frank casually asked.  
   
“I told you, I'm not supposed to-”    
  
“Bob, please. We're gonna be there in one and a half hours anyway-” Gerard whimpered at Frank's words. “-Why not tell us?”  
  
  “Fine, you annoying prick. Edison, New Jersey. Plainfield Ave. Are you gonna tell me what's going on in return now?”  
   
“I'm sorry, Bob.” Frank had pushed Gerard off his lap in mere seconds and now found himself holding his gun against Bob's temple.  
   
“Woah, Frank- what the-”  
   
“I'm sorry,” Frank repeated, Gerard next to him whimpered and clung to his shirt. “I need you to pull over.”  
   
“Okay, man, okay, just... calm down, Frank.” Bob spoke hastily and Frank noticed his knuckles whitening as he intensified the grip around the stirring wheel. It took him a few minutes to find a place to pull over, and Frank wished it would have taken him even longer because he really didn't want to do this, and he felt horrible and guilty already, and he would need coke, so much coke to make himself forget.  
   
“Okay,” Bob breathed as soon as he had parked the car. “I've done what you asked for. Frank, you're not gonna do this- come on, it's me, _Bob_ , we-”  
   
“I know. I'm sorry, Bob, really, this isn't about you, and I wish boss would have sent anybody else to get Gerard, but it is you, and I have to do this, I'm sorry, please forgive me.”  
   
“Don't-” But Frank had closed his eyes and simply pulled the trigger, the suppressor muffled the amount of noise, but a dull remnant of it filled the car anyway. And then it was silent. Even Gerard had stopped crying and was holding his breath now, still clutching the fabric of Frank's shirt, staring at the driver's seat. Frank didn't want to see. He still had his eyes shut tightly, the gun heavily in his hand, and all he wanted to do was cry and take drugs. With Gerard.  
   
“F-Frank...” Gerard whispered after what felt like months of horrific silence. “Frank, he's- he's dead.”  
   
“I know.” Frank's voice shook as he forced himself to open his eyes. Bob had fallen forward, his torso lying on the wheel which was covered in the dark substance coming from the hole in his head. “Fuck. Shit-”  
   
Gerard pulled Frank into a tight hug, so hard Frank had difficulties to breathe. He knew what Gerard was thinking although he wasn't able to formulate the words, and for a minute they just stayed like this as the guilt filled Frank's heart whilst relief filled Gerard's.  
   
“We need to hurry,” Frank said then, pulling away. “They're still going to kill Mikey if we don't stop them. We need to tell the police, we even know the address- oh god, Gerard, we're- we're free!”  
   
It's been 8 fucking years since Frank had been free the last time. 8 years of dreaming of being able to say that again in his life one day. And now there he was, free, with Gerard in front of him, the man he adored endlessly, and even though he'd just killed Bob, Frank smiled at him. In this short moment of realization, he was just happy, so fucking happy. Everything was going to be okay.  
He would surrender himself to the police. He didn't expect a sentence – he was forced to do all the shit after all. It was his boss who would be given his due, fucking finally. And his parents, god, his parents. Finally Frank would be able to see them again, let them know he was fine and not dead at all.  
   
But they needed to hurry. They needed to tell the police before their boss would find out something was wrong, or it all would have been for nothing.  
   
Frank got out of the car and opened the driver's door, ignoring the guilt swelling up yet again as he grabbed Bob's body by his arm and dragged him out of the car. The blonde man was big and much heavier than Frank had expected, so it took him all the strength he could muster to pull Bob away from the luckily empty street and hide the body behind a couple of bushes. Surely the police would understand Frank didn't have a choice other than kill him, right? Gerard stayed on the backseat as Frank took place behind the wheel and started the engine, trying not to think about _why_ the wheel was all wet and a little sticky, and started driving.  
   
_Everything will be fine_ , he told himself. _Gerard will be, Mikey will be, and I will be too._


	15. Epilogue

Frank was nervous. Nervous as heck. He hadn't been here for so long, yet it felt oddly familiar and just nice. He'd never expected to be able to see his parents' house again – he'd dreamed about it, yeah, but rationally, he'd not thought it would be possible. Yet here he was, holding hands with Gerard, standing in front of the door, waiting for himself to ring the doorbell.  
   
First of all it had seemed like Frank's parents had moved houses – it looked so different from what Frank remembered. The dooryard used to be mowed precisely, there used to be this massive affluent fountain in the middle of it, making the whole property look strict and severe. That's what it had seemed like to Frank, anyway. Now there were countless flowers on the dooryard, and the fountain had been replaced by a small tree. Frank liked it better this way, it looked friendlier.  
   
A glance at the nameplate had told Frank the Iero's were still living here though, so Frank thought his mother simply had tried to find joy in something other than her son. Maybe after Frank had _”died”_ she had needed something else to make her happy, something else to bring color in her life. The flowers seemed to be a little too much at second glance – a little corny, even. But maybe Frank was just interpreting too much into it, trying to distract himself from what he was going to have to face.  
   
He was looking forward to meeting his parents again, of course. And he hadn't wanted to call because his parents believed him to be dead after all – “Hey, it's me Frank, I know I'm supposed to be dead but guess what, I've been forced to rob and kill people instead, isn't that pleasant” seemed inappropriate. Frank felt like his parents needed to _see_ him, otherwise they wouldn't believe it. So there he was, at no notice whatsoever, with his heart beating jumpily in his ears.  
   
Gerard squeezed his hand gently. “Are you ready?” he asked, smiling, then pressed a brief kiss on Frank's head.  
   
“I'm scared,” Frank admitted and looked up into his boyfriend's deep eyes. “What if they don't want me back? What if they want to move on with their lives and have accepted I'm dead?”  
   
The taller one shook his head and caressed Frank's cheek gently. “Frankie, they will be so happy to have you back. Trust me. They'll embrace you.”  
   
Frank took a deep breath and simply enjoyed Gerard's touch and voice for a few seconds. “Okay,” he then said, nerving himself to meet his parents again after 8 years, then rang the doorbell.  
   
“It's gonna be fine,” Gerard whispered before noise in the house became audible, and soon enough the door swung open.  
   
Frank swallowed when he looked into his mother's face. She looked older, of course, and her pretty face had lost most of her previous happiness. Linda's eyes were tired and exhausted, and her lips were nothing more than a thin line as she stared back into Frank's eyes. Something inside her moved and she just looked at Frank, not even glancing at Gerard once, Frank was pretty sure she hadn't even taken notice of him.  
   
“You-” she started, moving her hands up to cover her mouth.  
   
“Mom,” Frank simply said, letting go of Gerard's hand and pulling his mother into a tight hug. All his worries were gone, he didn't care, this was his mother and he'd fucking missed her so fucking much, and he began crying heavily before he could even consider holding the tears back. “Mom...”  
   
“You- F-Frank?” She seemed to confused to form an actual sentence, and really, who could blame her. Hesitantly she wrapped her arms around her son's body, something she had never even dreamed about doing again. 

“Yes, mom, it's me-” Frank sobbed. He was so happy to feel her again, to smell the familiar scent coming from her. “I'm here.”  
  
 “You're not dead-” she stated before grabbing him by the shoulders and holding him a few inches in front of her so she could look at him. “It's you. It's you, isn't it? Oh my god, Frankie!” And then she started crying too, and Frank sobbed even heavier, and they hugged each other again, just stayed like that for minutes, enjoying every second.  
   
“Fuck, mom, I've missed you so much.”    
  
“We've missed you too, Frankie, we've been missing you every single day,” she whispered in his ear, still not ready to let him go. “Tell me- what happened to you? Where have you been? Why did you not come home?”  
   
“I- it's a long story,” Frank said, pulling away slowly. “Can we go inside?”  
   
“Sure, sweetheart,” she said, grabbed his wrist and began to pull him inside.  
   
“Wait. Uh, this is Gerard-” Frank interrupted awkwardly, pointing at the other man. “My, uh, boyfriend.”  
   
Frank knew his parents weren't specifically advocating for gay people, and he was pretty sure they were against it. A part of Frank was afraid she might hate him for being gay, and even daring to bring his boyfriend with him, and Frank feared she might just hurry back inside and leave him and Gerard outside the door.  
But Linda was so happy to see him so again, she didn't even think about all these things, and just smiled at Gerard heartily. “He should join us, then.”  Frank grinned dumbly and took Gerard's hand again, and together they went inside.  
 

**

  Saying Frank's mother – and father, who'd joined them a few minutes later after being told his son had returned – were shocked would be ruthless underestimation. After they'd spent half an hour hugging each other, and crying, and just being happy to have each other again (with Gerard sitting on an armchair, feeling slightly awkward and out of place), they wanted Frank to tell them what had happened. So that's what Frank did, leaving out too cruel details, of course.   When he came to the part he'd met Gerard, he let him talk too so he wouldn't just sit there, feeling excluded. Saying all the shit out loud made it seem surreal, like some weird comic. Frank took over when it came to the part where Gerard had been told to kill his brother because Frank didn't know if Gerard was ready to talk about that, and when he told his parents he had killed one of his gang members to be able to escape, both of them gasped audibly. Frank had not told him about the murders he had committed before – they didn't have to know everything, it would just worry them.  
   
Frank then talked about how they'd driven to the nearest police station they could find, and told the officers about where to find their boss and what was about to happen. Frank also told the police he had been kidnapped and forced to cooperate with these people, and that the same had happened to Gerard. Luckily the police had acted quickly and only 2 hours later the boss, Bert, and all the other fuckers had been arrested. Some of them were set free again after they had been able to prove they had been forced to do the acts as well, one of them being Bert, but Frank then had told the police about Bert repeatedly molesting Gerard with the result he had to stay away from the both of them, or he would get penalized.  
   
Mikey had been informed and survived unharmed. With his help the guy who had wanted him dead had even been identified and imprisoned, so none of them had to worry about Mikey's life again any time soon. Gerard's brother had visited Gerard and Frank a couple of days ago and thanked them for what they'd done, and Frank found he really liked him, and they had promised each other to stay in contact.  
   
The whole thing at the police station had taken several days, that's why Frank and Gerard turned up here just now, almost one week later. Frank wasn't to expect any kind of sentence, neither was Gerard, and everything seemed ridiculously perfect.  
   
“Frank, I'm so happy you're back. God, you don't know what we went through... it was hell. But you had to go through so much worse...” There were tears in Frank's father's eyes again, but he wiped them away. “Thank god. Thank god you're back.”  
   
Frank nodded. He was sitting between his parents, hands and arms on and around him. They wanted to touch him as much as possible, as if they weren't able to believe it was actually him sitting there on the sofa, and not just some ghost.  
   
Linda nodded and planted a kiss on her son's temple. “We love you, Frankie. Welcome home.”

  “Thank you,” Frank sighed happily and smiled.  
   
“So, you are Frank's boyfriend, Gerard?” Linda asked, looking at Gerard kindly. Against Frank's expectations, she didn't talk to him sceptically, but purely friendly, and it made the whole situation seem even more surreal.  
   
“Yes, ma'am,” Gerard answered, and Frank grinned at him. He was so cute talking to her that politely. They had never made it official, like, no one had asked the other _”Will you be my boyfriend?”_ or something. The first time Gerard told Frank he loved him was after their boss had been caught and locked up, and they had been telling each other every day from that moment on, and, although it sounds cheesy, they were as happy as could be.  
   
“Oh, you can call me Linda, dear. You seem like a really nice guy, I'm glad you've found each other.”    
  
“Aren't you going to say anything about me being gay?” Frank asked, raising a brow confusedly.  
   
“Honey, we love you. We accept you the way you are. We even, uh, accept your tattoos and your piercings,” Linda said with a smile that seemed a little forced.  
   
Frank grinned at that. “They're awesome aren't they? I love them.”  

“They're nice,” Frank's dad said and petted his son's shoulder. “As long as you like them, I like them. And about being gay – at least we don't have to worry about you getting a girl pregnant, right?”  

“Dad-” Frank whined and Gerard chuckled.  
   
“It's true, honey, lot's of parents have to deal with that! Kids can be irresponsible, you know, and not aware of the consequences-”  

“Mom, please, don't,” Frank begged, an awkward grin on his face. “I'm too old for that.”  
   
Linda sighed and nodded, her face slightly pained. “You're right, Frankie. I forgot how old you've become. You're 22, right?”  

Frank nodded and forced a calming smile when he saw the pain in his mother's face increase. “Hey, that's still pretty young, you know,” he said to stop her from crying again. “Look at Gerard – he's _27_! _That's_ old.”  
   
Gerard made a protesting noise but Linda smiled, so Frank was soothed.

  “27, boy?” his father asked. “You look like you just turned 18!”  
   
“I'm just going to take that as a compliment,” Gerard answered with a smirk.  
   
“I want you and Frank to stay as long as you want!” Linda suddenly said, smiling at Gerard expectantly. “You can sleep in Frank's room, we've got lots of space. It would be a pleasure!”  
   
“Thank you, mom.”  

“That would be great, thank you!”

   Frank hugged his mother tightly again before going over to Gerard to sit on his boyfriend's lap. Touching Gerard made his heart beat faster everytime, and he doubted that would ever change. Sometimes Frank considered he might be addicted to his boyfriend, because seriously, there wasn't a single minute he didn't spend thinking about him, and he loved him endlessly, and he was just perfect. Then again he doubted any gay man could stay away from Gerard, from his pretty face and his scent and his voice and his personality, especially. Maybe what Frank was feeling for Gerard couldn't even be considered _love_ because, despite all the weird circumstances they'd met and fallen for each other under, Frank was pretty sure he was feeling way more than just love. What they had was special, and important, and real, and thinking about all that Frank put his arms around his boyfriend's body and pulled him closer, kissing his cheek gently and whispering “I love you so much.” in his ear, just in case he hadn't told him enough, just in case he didn't know _how_ fucking important Gerard was to Frank, just in case he had ever doubted it. Just in case.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so this is the last chapter! Who noticed something about the first couple of sentences of the prologue and the last paragraph of the epilogue? :D
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading, everyone. I really hope you've enjoyed, because I sure as hell did enjoy writing it :) 
> 
> I'm grateful for every single comment you write, even it's just one word. I'd love to see your opinions!
> 
>  
> 
> Lena :)


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